John McAfee died by suicide in Spanish jail cell, court rules

Disgraced cybersecurity tycoon John McAfee died by suicide in Spanish jail cell, court rules – but ex-wife Janice is appealing finding and insists he was MURDERED

John McAfee, 75, was found dead on June 23, 2021 in a Spanish prison cell
Seven months later, a judge in Barcelona has ruled his death a suicide
McAfee’s ex-wife, Janice, demanded a ‘thorough investigation’ of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke
His ex-wife and daughter are said to be locked in a legal battle over his body, which remains in a Spanish morgue freezer
Meanwhile, a book about his exploits in his final years was released last month
It is unclear when McAfee’s body might be moved from the prison morgue where it has been since his death

Disgraced cybersecurity tycoon John McAfee died by suicide in a Spanish jail cell, a court has ruled – but his ex-wife has already mounted an appeal, insisting the death was murder.

McAfee, 75, was found hanging in his prison cell at Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona on June 23, just hours after his extradition to the US was approved.

Last week’s court ruling confirmed the findings of the original autopsy that McAfee’s death was a suicide, MarketWatch reported Monday.

Authorities in Spain had previously said everything at the scene in his cell indicated that the tech mogul did kill himself, but his ex-wife Janice disputes that.

An official source familiar with the investigation also told The Associated Press that a suicide note had been found in McAfee’s pocket.

The tech entrepreneur, who founded the eponymous anti-virus software, but was just worth $4m at the time of his death wrote: ‘I am a phantom parasite. I want to control my future, which does not exist.’ Janice says she doesn’t believe the note was in her late ex’s handwriting.

And tweets he’d sent likening himself to Jeffrey Epstein – whose 2019 prison suicide fueled conspiracy theories – further raised suspicion about the nature of his death.

For seven months, McAfee’s body has been held in the prison morgue’s freezer since his death. Last year, McAfee’s ex-wife, Janice McAfee, demanded a ‘thorough investigation’ of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.

McAfee, who was found dead in his Spanish prison cell in June while awaiting extradition to the United States, died by suicide, a court ruled last week

‘His last words to me were ‘I love you and I will call you in the evening,’ she told reporters outside the prison in Barcelona after collecting her husband’s belongings back in June.

McAfee’s body remained at the prison morgue for seven months during the ongoing cause-of-death investigation as his ex-wife and his daughter, named only as ‘Jen’ for her privacy, have been in a legal battle over his remains.

Following the ruling of McAfee’s cause of death last week, it is unclear when his body might be moved from the prison morgue where it has been since his death.

Jen’s lawyer, Joy Athanasiou, told MarketWatch that she hopes to meet with Javier Villalba, Janice’s McAfee’s lawyer, on Monday to discuss the case.

‘At this point, we don’t really know much aside from the ruling,’ Athanasiou told MarketWatch. ‘It’s been a long, strange process.’

McAfee was arrested at the Barcelona airport in October 2020 on a warrant issued by prosecutors in Tennessee who were seeking up to three decades of imprisonment for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.

The jail where he was found dead has housed other big-name inmates – including the mastermind behind one of Catalonia’s biggest corruption schemes and a former Barcelona official.

McAfee had said it was like ‘the Hilton’ when comparing it to U.S. prisons.

McAfee appeared via videoconference during his extradition hearing at Audiencia Nacional court, in Madrid, Spain in June just before his death

It has also been reported that his daughter and his ex wife Janice (pictured with McAfee) are locked in a legal fight over the corpse, that has been held since McAfee was found hanging in a Spanish cell on June 23 last year – hours after his extradition to the US was approved

McAfee called the prison (pictured) a ‘polite society,’ where he said the cell is open twice a day for 30 minutes, but no one enters without invitation

John McAfee was found in his cell at the Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona

While in some countries, cause of death investigations are carried out and determined by coroners, in Spain death reports are issued under a court system that is presided over by a judge.

Meanwhile, McAfee’s ex-wife his daughter continue their battle for possession of his remains.

Jen reportedly wanted the body of her father to be cremated and shipped to the U.S. but has since given up on her claim to prevent further delays to her father’s burial.

It is not public knowledge exactly why Janice wishes to gain possession of the mogul’s body, but a report in July 2021 from Money Trading Club claimed the dispute was related to inheritance.

In addition to authorities, the question of McAfee’s estate is also of interest to his family, including Janice, who insists that his death may not have been a suicide, as Spanish authorities found.

The report also said that Janice McAfee at first claimed to be his wife, despite them being divorced, while the daughter – said to be from McAfee’s first marriage and now in her 50s – claims to be his only biological daughter, despite McAfee previously claiming to have at least 47 descendants.

British-born McAfee – who put his name to the world’s first commercial anti-virus software – had previously been dubbed ‘the craziest man in tech’.

The body of tech mogul John McAfee (pictured in 2018) has been held in a Spanish morgue for seven months after his prison suicide

The prime minister of Belize, where McAfee became an international fugitive and built a fortress home, put it more bluntly, calling him ‘bonkers’.

He revealed the extent to which he blew through his fortune in interviews with Mark Eglinton, an author who wrote a book about the eccentric millionaire’s attempt to flee arrest by U.S. federal agents.

According to Eglinton’s book, John McAfee blew his $100 million fortune on ‘bizarre’ mansions and really was broke when he died in the Spanish prison.

Eglinton, who collaborated with McAfee for six months while he was on the run from authorities, told DailyMail.com last year that he believed McAfee was indeed penniless, citing his personal experience with the outlaw and extensive interviews with him.

Eglinton, whose book No Domain: The John McAfee Tapes documents his extensive interviews with the outlaw, said McAfee was unable to pay what he requested for the planned collaboration, which will be authored by Eglinton solely.

‘I don’t doubt that if he could have helped he would have,’ Eglinton said of the modest advance fee he requested. ‘He said, ‘I can’t do it, my financial situation is worse than yours.”

Last month, a book detailing McAfee’s almost fantastical globe-trotting exploits in his final years was released, with its contents being heavily denied by his family.

The day before he was found dead, Spain’s National Court had announced that it was agreeing to his extradition to the U.S. but the decision was not final.

‘We had a plan of action already in place to appeal that decision,’ Janice McAfee told reporters at the time. ‘I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy: Because of these politically motivated charges against him my husband is now dead.

McAfee and his wife Janice were both active on social media while he was on the run. They are shown in one picture, which he described as showing them ‘in their retreat’

‘I don’t believe he did this, I will get answers,’ she said.

The couple met in 2012 in Miami and married the following year. John McAfee had several children from previous relationships, Janice McAfee said.

The entrepreneur had not been connected with the companies that took over the antivirus software he built after he sold his shares in the 1990s. That early success had made McAfee rich and followed him in his troubled biography.

In 2012, he was sought for questioning in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime. The controversy didn’t stop him from making long-shot runs for the U.S. presidency starting in 2016.

But it was his more recent tax problems that kept him away from the U.S., the country where the British-born entrepreneur was raised and had built his early success.

The Tennessee prosecutors’ indictments from 2020 showed that the tycoon allegedly failed to declare income made by promoting cryptocurrencies, attending speaking engagements and selling the rights for a documentary on his eventful life.

McAfee’s social media postings indicated that he had chosen a northeastern Spanish coastal resort town as his base in Europe at least since late 2019.

The Brians 2 prison complex, viewed from above, also housed the mastermind behind one of the country’s largest scheme as well as a former Barcelona president

The prison houses up to 1,500 inmates

John McAfee, before his death, said the Spanish prison where he was staying was like a luxury hotel compared to American prisons

This is inside the hallways of the Brians 2 prison complex in Barcelona

The National Court judge said John McAfee had provided no evidence to back his allegations that he was being politically persecuted.

Spanish authorities insist that there was no evidence of foul play, but McAfee’s previous tweets that he would never take his own life ‘a la Epstein’ have fueled conspiracy theories.

‘I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine,’ McAfee tweeted on October 15.

Furthermore, just minutes after his death was reported, his official Instagram account posted an image of the letter ‘Q’ – in an apparent reference to QAnon.

Some wild conspiracy theories have since emerged including the idea the tech guru activated a so called ‘dead man’s switch’ to expose the government.

The mysterious ‘Q’ post shared to McAfee’s Instagram minutes after his death could indicate a hidden encryption, the theorists suggest.

A ‘dead man’s switch’ is activated when the device’s owner dies.

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123, or go to samaritans.org. For confidential support in the US, call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.

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