BEFORE antivirus pioneer John McAfee reportedly killed himself after he was set to be extradited to the United States, he claimed that he was being targeted as he alleged that he had compiled files about “corruption” in governments.
He said that he had been receiving “subtle messages” from US officials threatening him.
The entrepreneur had also previously compared himself to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as he claimed that he would never die by suicide.
Epstein was also found dead in a prison cell in 2019.
“If I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine,” he wrote in an October 2020 tweet.
He also showed off a tattoo on his arm reading “whackd” as he claimed again that he would never kill himself.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Read our John McAfee live blog for the latest news and updates…
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE HAD A 'TRYING PERIOD' WHILE IN PRISON
Last month, McAfee shared what his prison life in Catalonia was like via Twitter, describing his lonely and isolated existence behind bars.
He said: "Imagine preschool where the kids use drugs, carry makeshift weapons and the teachers tase you for asking questions."
In a different tweet, he said: "I speak no Catalan and little Spanish so human contact is limited.
"There are no entertainments – no escape from loneliness, from emptiness, from myself.
"This has been the most trying period of my life."
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE ARRESTED FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY SCHEME
McAfee and his bodyguard Jimmy Gale Watson Jr were charged for a scheme to exploit McAfee's large Twitter following by publicly touting cryptocurrency offerings and digital tokens that they later sold once prices rose on the promotions, according to the US Department of Justice and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
But a week before his death, McAfee tweeted that he no digital currency assets squirrelled away.
He said: "The US believes I have hidden crypto. I wish I did but it has dissolved through the many hands of Team McAfee (your belief is not required), and my remaining assets are all seized.
"My friends evaporated through fear of association. I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing."
- Katie Balevic
MULTIPLE INQUIRIES INTO A MAN ON THE RUN
Ae well as facing tax evasion charges in the US, authorities in Belize sought to question him over the bloody death of a neighbor who threatened his dogs.
McAfee had lived on the run, living on a boat in international waters before he was arrested in October 2020 while trying to leave Spain for Turkey.
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE SAID THE GOVERNMENT WAS AFTER HIM
For years, McAfee claimed that he was being targeted as he alleged that he had compiled files about "corruption" in governments.
He said that he had been receiving "subtle messages" from US officials threatening him.
The entrepreneur had also previously compared himself to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as he claimed that he would never die by suicide.
Epstein was also found dead in a prison cell in 2019.
“If I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine," he wrote in an October 2020 tweet.
He also showed off a tattoo on his arm reading "whackd" as he claimed again that he would never kill himself.
- Katie Balevic
EX-WIFE CLAIMS AUTHORITIES WERE 'DETERMINED' MCAFEE WOULD DIE
Only three days before his death, McAfee's former prostitute wife Janice had claimed authorities were "determined" he would die in prison in a chilling Father's Day message.
"John’s honesty has often gotten him in trouble with corrupt governments and corrupt government officials because of his outspoken nature and his refusal to be extorted, intimidated, or silenced," she said.
"Now the US authorities are determined to have John in prison to make an example of him for speaking out against corruption within their government agencies."
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE PLANNED ON FIGHTING CHARGES
Spain’s National Court on Monday ruled that McAfee should be extradited to the US to face charges for evading more than $4million in the fiscal years 2014 to 2018.
The judge dropped seven of the 10 counts in the initial indictment.
Villalba said that McAfee had learned about the ruling shortly after on Monday and that his death on Wednesday didn’t come in the heat of the moment.
He also said that the legal team had been preparing an appeal to avoid being extradited.
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE'S LAWYER BLAMES 'THE CRUELTY OF THE SYSTEM' FOR DEATH
Although Villalba said that he had no evidence of any foul play, he blamed the death on "the cruelty of the system" for keeping a 75-year-old behind bars for economic and not blood-related crimes after judges refused to release him on bail.
"We had managed to nullify seven of the 10 counts he was accused of and even so he was still that dangerous person who could be fleeing Spain if he was released?" the lawyer said.
"He was a world eminence, where could he hide?"
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE'S LAWYER SAID THEY WILL GET 'TO THE BOTTOM' OF MYSTERIOUS DEATH
Lawyer Javier Villalba said the entrepreneur’s death came as a surprise to his wife and other relatives, adding he would seek to get “to the bottom” of his client’s death.
It also comes as it emerges that while McAfee had been sharing a jail cell in the prison since he was placed in preventative detention since his October arrest, he was reportedly alone at the time of his death, AP reports.
A judge has ordered an autopsy for McAfee to determine the cause of death but a court spokeswoman for the Catalonia region said Thursday that it could take "days or weeks."
"This has been like pouring cold water on the family and on his defense team," Villalba told The Associated Press on Thursday.
"Nobody expected it, he had not said goodbye."
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE COULD HAVE FACED A 30-YEAR SENTENCE
The pioneering creator of popular computer antivirus software died in an apparent suicide yesterday afternoon at Brians 2 Prison in Barcelona on the day that a court approved his extradition to the US on tax evasion charges.
If found guilty of criminal charges he faced a maximum 30-year sentence.
His cousin's comments on the "shock" of his death come as McAfee's lawyer claims that he "didn't say goodbye to his family" before his reported suicide.
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE'S RELATIVES SAY: 'I WOULDN'T KNOW WHY HE DIED'
Shelley Uden and her brother Gary Williams, from Gloucestershire in the UK, are cousins of the late tech entrepreneur John McAfee. Their late father and John’s mother were brother and sister.
Gary’s wife Ruth Williams told The Sun: “I wouldn't know why he died or if it was a suicide or a suspicious death by the authorities trying to shut him up.
“My husband hadn’t seen him in years and I’d never met him."
Gloucestershire-born McAfee was renowned for his eccentric behavior and trouble with the law.
- Katie Balevic
MCAFEE'S FAMILY QUESTIONS LEGITIMACY OF SUICIDE
Relatives of the antivirus software pioneer questioned his death by suicide as they referenced his own previous claims of "authorities trying to shut him up."
Shelley Uden said on Thursday she was "very sad" to hear of her cousin's death, adding "if he did take his own life, we may never know why.”
Shelley, 70, who lives with husband John in Gwent, Wales, told The Sun that she "heard about his death in prison on the main news last night."
"It came as quite a shock," she said.
“He was a very colorful character. I lost contact with him years ago and while I never saw him I heard about him on the news.”
- Julia Fields
DRUG USE
He took on a series of programming jobs instead — but soon developed a love of drugs, particularly LSD. According to Wired, he'd drop acid in the morning before heading off to work.
On one harrowing occasion, McAfee snorted an entire bag of a psychedelic powder called DMT. He was found hiding behind a rubbish bin, convinced he could hear voices.
Over the next few years, his drug habit escalated, and McAfee found himself doing lines of cocaine at work most days.
Unsurprisingly, things eventually came to a head in the early 1980s when his wife left him and he was sacked.
- Julia Fields
CRYPTIC 'Q' POST ON MCAFEE'S INSTAGRAM BEFORE ACCOUNT WAS DELETED
The antivirus pioneer reportedly hanged himself ahead of his extradition to the United States, and 30 minutes after news of his death broke, McAfee's Instagram uploaded a photo of the letter Q.
However, less than 24 hours after his death, McAfee's Instagram page appeared to be deleted.
And the "Q" photo on his social media appears to be a reference to QANON, the bizarre conspiracy theory that was tied to the fortunes of former President Donald Trump.
McAfee's latest Instagram post was shared without a caption and showed a black letter "Q" on top of a white background, the Independent reported.
The letter "Q" represents a disproven and discredited far-right conspiracy theory, known as QANON, about pedophiles running a worldwide child sex-trafficking ring.
Instagram users responded to the post by commenting: "RIP,"
"this man did not kill himself," "Q," and "Epstein 2.0"According to the news outlet, McAfee once shared a photo in 2019 of himself in an altered image of Jeffrey Epstein — who was found dead in a prison cell that same year.
- Julia Fields
QUANTUM SUICIDE DEMONSTRATION ON JOURNALIST
Tech writer Joshua Davis visited McAfee at his island estate in Belize, where he was hunkered down at the time after being accused of assembling a private army to enter the drug trade.
The interview took a dark turn when the millionaire produced a gun and asked: "Can I do a demonstration?".
Davis claims in the story that McAfee loaded a bullet into the Smith and Wesson revolver and then proceeded to point the gun at his head.
Staring at the journalist, he then repeatedly pulled the trigger in a solo game of Russian Roulette – counting down all the five chambers in the gun.
But the pistol never went off, and McAfee said: "I can do this all day long.
"I can do this ten thousand times. Nothing will ever happen. Why? Because you have missed something.
"You are operating on an assumption about reality that is wrong."
- Julia Fields
MCAFEE FASCINATED WITH 'PAINLESS' SUICIDE
Weeks before his death he tweeted about being asked by a man "facing a difficult situation" about "painless ways" to kill himself.
He added: "The amazing thing is that the tone of the discussion was like discussing the weather".
But perhaps one of the most out there theories on his death being dredged up by fans is the antivirus boss's apparent fascination with "quantum suicide".
"Quantum suicide" is a theoretical thought experiment which is based on the idea there are an infinite amount of parallel universes.
The mind bending theory goes that every decision creates a different universe, according to the basis of quantum mechanics.
So the outlandish conceptual experiment claims if this is all true – you should be able to stand in front of loaded gun and survive.
This is because your consciousness only continues in the parallel universe in which you survive – thus proving we have "quantum immortality".
Quantum suicide however is only an abstract thought experiment – and would not work in the real world – and it used mainly as a concept to help distinguish between different theories of quantum mechanics.
McAfee however appears to have been intrigued by the idea.
- Julia Fields
MCAFEE PLEDGED TO EAT HIS OWN 'MANHOOD' IF BITCOIN DIDN'T REACH $500K BY THE END OF 2020
In November 2017 he wrote: “When I predicted Bitcoin at $500,000 by the end of 2020, it used a model that predicted $5,000 at the end of 2017.
“BTC has accelerated much faster than my model assumptions. I now predict Bircoin [sic] at $1 million by the end of 2020. I will still eat my d*** if wrong.”
Thay year he was asked by a twitter user: "So 1btc 500k $ within 3 years?" and he replied: "If not, I will eat my d*** on national television."
But then seeming to go back on his word in 2020 he then wrote: "Eat my d*** in 12 months? A ruse to onboard new users. It worked.
- Julia Fields
MCAFEE SPOKE OF 12 SUSPECTED ATTACKS ON HIS LIFE
McAfee later told a Gizmodo journalist of about 12 suspected attempts on his life – a paranoia possibly fuelled his erratic drug-taking.
Finally, after a neighbor he argued with was found dead in a pool of his own blood with a gunshot wound to his head, McAfee fled the country.
- Julia Fields
ANTIBIOTICS COMPANY IN BELIZE
Although it was meant to be an escape from business, he ended up starting an antibiotics company within a few months of moving there.
At some point during this time he began posting on drug-taking message boards about attempts to purify the compounds within bath salts.
But his business venture turned to ruin when local cops raided the property in search of evidence of drug-making.
They found a cache of weapons, £15,000 in cash and some legal drug-making equipment, shot a dog, handcuffed four security guards and arrested McAfee – but they found nothing to pin on him.
- Julia Fields
AEROTREKKING INCIDENT 'KILLED HIS NEPHEW'
It also helped him indulge his hobby of aerotrekking – flying unlicensed microlight aircraft at low altitude and breakneck speeds.
Having gained a harem of female followers at a sex yoga ashram he established, according to Vice, McAfee then used fake social media accounts to try to boost the sport's popularity.
But, entangled in a lawsuit over a flying accident which killed his nephew, the increasingly wacky McAfee fed the press stories about being wiped out by the financial crisis 2007-08, sold all his property at bargain prices and headed for the Central American jungle.
- Julia Fields
'HEDONISTIC LIFESTYLE'
The millions he made from the sale of his stake in McAfee Associates, a revolutionary computer antivirus company, allowed him to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle.
The money funded an opulent playboy existence which included buying homes in Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
- Julia Fields
WHERE WAS MCAFEE FROM?
Having been born on a US Army base in the UK, McAfee had both American and British citizenship.
He was born in Gloucestershire, England, and raised in Virginia.
- Julia Fields
REFUGE IN LONDON AND PARIS
Days later he claimed to have sought refuge in London and Paris.
McAfee tweeted a picture claiming that he and his wife, Janice McAfee were sitting in a London restaurant.
He then wrote: "On the move again. The long arm of the U.S. is reaching for us here in London.
"Thank God it's a weekend. Government bureaucracy paperwork is stalled until tomorrow morning.
"We are never stalled. Will update you soon."
Four hours later, in a tweet he had stamped as having been sent from Paris, he posted pictures of himself and his wife with two other men in a hotel room, and wrote: "The bad guys never came close.
"We are out of England now and on our way to complete safety."
His location at the time that any of the tweets were published were not independently verified.
- Julia Fields
SUSPECTED OF BEING ON YACHT WITH 'HIGH-CALIBER WEAPONS'
In January 2019, McAfee claimed to be living internationally on a boat.
Later that year, in July, he was released from detention in the Dominican Republic after he and five others were suspected of traveling on a yacht carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition and military-style gear.
- Julia Fields
MCAFEE TWEETS ABOUT NOT RESPONDING TO A SINGLE LAWSUIT FOR 11 YEARS
A Florida court ordered McAfee in 2019 to pay $25million to Faull's estate in a wrongful death claim.
However he refused to pay it, writing on Twitter that he has not responded to "a single one of my 37 lawsuits for the past 11 years".
McAfee claimed to have no assets, writing that the order was a "mute point" an apparent misspelling of 'moot'.
- Julia Fields
PRIME MINISTER EXPRESSED CONCERNS FOR MCAFEE'S 'MENTAL STATE'
Then-Prime Minister Dean Barrow expressed doubts about McAfee's mental state, saying: "I don't want to be unkind to the gentleman, but I believe he is extremely paranoid, even bonkers."
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