A Spanish court ordered the extradition to the United States of John McAfee, the creator of the famous computer antivirus of the same name, on suspicion of tax evasion between 2016 and 2018.
According to the report of the National Hearing, the Spanish court, which handles such cases to which Efe has access, received the green light to transfer a suspect to the United States in connection with the alleged crimes committed in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 financial years, when the Attorney General agreed to this measure.
This did not happen in 2014 and 2015, which was also announced by the American justice, since in Spain the offenses in question will be considered purely administrative.
Contrary to the defense’s thesis, the court rules out evidence of “political, ideological or similar persecution” because “beyond the verbal allegations” of McAfee “no compelling indications” have been presented to this effect.
“The social, economic or any other significance that the defense claims the applicant has does not give him any immunity, since he is subject to the laws just like any other citizen,” the judge said.
McAfee, who has a second extradition request to the United States, was arrested last October at Barcelona’s El Prat airport as he was about to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, and has been in custody ever since. The court also dismissed his latest request for freedom. given that “the risk of flight remains clear” and that it has “no discernible signs” of a connection with Spain.
During the extradition hearing, the businessman, whose tax debt to the US government is more than $ 4 million, said he had paid “millions of dollars in taxes” and said he was the victim of political prosecution for exposing tax corruption.
The businessman said that he decided to get involved in politics and participate in the primaries of the libertarian party, “a radical political party and a very minority, according to his own statements, in which he was not even elected as a candidate,” the court said. who does not see this “obvious connection” with the extradition request.
The Court also does not discern “political activity or any activity that has been suppressed” or that it “poses any danger to the interests” of the United States.
McAfee is an American computer security software company headquartered in Santa Clara, California that was founded in 1986 by John McAfee.
