Last Updated on June 23, 2021
John McaFee, the antivirus pioneer, cryptocurrency advocate, and former libertarian U.S. presidential candidate who was found dead in a Spanish jail cell on Wednesday, repeatedly warned supporters that he believed he would killed by the U.S. government while in jail via an assassination staged as a suicide. Local authorities have claimed that the 75-year-old’s death “looks like a suicide.”
On November 30, 2019, Mcafee tweeted, “Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: “We’re coming for you McAfee! We’re going to kill yourself”. I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn’t. I was whackd. Check my right arm.” A photo accompanying the tattoo showed a tattoo on McAfee’s arm titled ‘WHCKD,” a cryptocurrency Mcafee had launched to draw attention to the “suicide” of Jeffrey Epstein in jail earlier that year.
Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm.$WHACKD available only on https://t.co/HdSEYi9krq🙂 pic.twitter.com/rJ0Vi2Hpjj
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) November 30, 2019
“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 wrote from jail in October 2020, following his arrest in a Spanish airport.
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.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) October 15, 2020
McAfee’s tweets from jail continued to reinforce his assertion that he would not commit suicide by his own hand in jail, and even showcased optimism about his future if he could avoid extradition to the U.S.
“In a democracy, power is given not taken,” McAfee wrote on June 18, 2021 in the final tweet before his death. “But it is still power. Love, compassion, caring have no use for it. But it is fuel for greed, hostility, jealousy… All power corrupts. Take care which powers you allow a democracy to wield.”
In a democracy, power is given not taken.
But it is still power.
Love, compassion, caring have no use for it. But it is fuel for greed, hostility, jealousy…
All power corrupts.
Take care which powers you allow a democracy to wield.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 18, 2021
McAfee claimed in 2019 to have “31+” terabytes of “incriminating” information on “elite” world officials, which he promised would be released in the event of his death or disappearance. In a video released shortly before his arrest, McAfee explained knowledge of the U.S. “Deep State” in some detail.
July 20, 2020 John McAfee published this video calling out the so called US deep state. One week later they issued a warrant for his arrest and he was arrested in Spain. Less than a year later he’s dead in a Spanish prison pic.twitter.com/l86DntBqFU
— Bruce Porter Jr. (@NetworksManager) June 23, 2021
National File’s groundbreaking report on McAfee’s death in jail can be read here.