The wife of British tycoon and software creator John McAfee has claimed he “blew” £73 million before he was found dead in a Spanish jail.
The 75-year-old was found dead in his cell on June 23rd in a Spanish prison where he was awaiting extradition to the United States.
An official post-mortem examination revealed the cause of his death was suicide, but his wife Janice McAfee has disputed the suicide note is genuine.
Now she has shared a message on Twitter claiming her husband had lost his $100 million (£73 million) fortune by the time they met in Miami.
In a Tweet headlined “HOW JOHN MCAFEE BLEW $100 MILLION DOLLARS”, Janice claims some of this money was lost in the 2008 financial crisis, while some went on supporting his 49 children and on fighting lawsuits.
(Image: REUTERS)
The widow claims what remained of his wealth was “stolen” by authorities in Belize, and that by the time he was deported from Guatemala to Miami he “had nothing to his name save the clothes on his back”.
She writes: ” It is important to note that John’s net worth was valued at $100 million when he let his company McAfee associates in 1994 and was not involved with the company for over thirty years. John also lost some of his wealth in the 2008 financial crisis.
“How much? No one really knows. There has been much speculation on the subject but only John knew how much of a lost (sic) he took.”
(Image: Janice McAfee’/Twitter)
She said it is true that John had 49 children and while the mothers did not want him in their life he provided for all of them financially.
Janice continued: “John also spent a large amount of his wealth on attorneys fighting the countless lawsuits brought against him, one of the many drawbacks to naming your company after yourself.
“When people saw John all they could see was a dollar sign and an opportunity to make a quick buck. “
She said Mr McAfee was lonely at the height of his wealth, not knowing who his real friends were. She said this loneliness and the death of his nephew led him to Belize.
(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Janice said: “John’s time in Belize had (sic) been well documented and in due time I will add my two cents on the subject but what I will tell you is what remained of John’s wealth he had with him in Belize and that was stolen by the authorities when he had to abruptly leave the country.
“When I met John which was the day after he was deported from Guatemala to Miami, he had nothing to his name save the clothes on his back.”
Janice, who met McAfee when he hired her as a sex worker in Miami in December 2012, added: “Throughout our relationship John gained and lost money many times. He did not come from money and he was no stranger to rebuilding himself from nothing.
“No one enjoys having more bills than money and this was also true of John. John was a master of reinventing himself and he was stolen from us before he could complete his latest transformation”.
(Image: REUTERS)
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The anti-virus software creator enjoyed a high profile life and he claimed he was constantly targeted by hackers who saw besting him as “a badge of honour.”
In May the Mirror told how Gloucestershire-born millionaire McAfee had been detained last October at the Barcelona airport.
He had lived for years on the run with his wife Janice, who previously spoke about how she spied on him for the first two years of their relationship.
Speaking in 2019, McAfee said he believed cartel bosses were hired to get information on him by the Government of Belize in Central America, where he used to live.
He had previously claimed Belizean officials had tried to kill him, an accusation the nation’s Prime Minister Dean Barrow dismissed, labelling him “extremely paranoid, even bonkers”.
