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Janice McAfee, the widow of tech impresario John McAfee, is still in the midst of grief. She is doing “odd jobs to feed herself,” has run out of funds, and still doesn’t know what really happened to her husband.

Since the death of crypto guru and antivirus pioneer husband John McAfee in a Barcelona prison more than two years ago, she has remained in Spain in an undisclosed location and has only been saved from homelessness by the kindness of friends.

She can’t move on because she still doesn’t know what happened to her husband in spite of a September ruling this year from a Catalan court that John McAfee died by suicide and the case was effectively closed.

In an exclusive Zoom interview with Magazine, she explained her current situation.

“For more than two years, I’ve not only had to deal with the tragedy of John’s death, but it’s so hard to move on because the authorities refuse to release the autopsy of his death. I have tried and tried, but they will not let me see it.

“There is the opportunity of an independent autopsy, but that will cost 30,000 euros, and I don’t have the money to pay for it. All I want is to see his body for myself and know that really happened.”

“Not having the money myself to make the decision to find out what really happened is hard, but I’m hoping that giving this interview will give people the opportunity to know what’s really going on. I still have people contacting me who still can’t believe he’s dead,” she says.

What happened to John McAfee’s $100-million fortune?

Although John was worth more than $100 million after he resigned from antivirus company McAfee in 1994 and sold his stock, his official fortune had dwindled to an estimated $4 million at the time of his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

He claimed in 2019 that he had no money and could not pay a $25-million court order over a wrongful death lawsuit. However, he was arrested the following year on U.S. charges of tax evasion, with authorities claiming he and his team had earned $11 million promoting cryptocurrencies. From prison, he told his 1 million Twitter followers he doesn’t have any hidden crypto. “I have nothing. But I regret nothing.”

According to Janice, her husband didn’t have a will or an estate, so there is no money, and because of the judgments against him in the U.S., it’s highly unlikely that any financial legacy will be passed on to her. 

John was able to tweet pictures of himself from inside his cell
John was able to tweet pictures of himself from inside his cell. (Twitter)

There are stories that there are secret caches and documents, but Janice was deliberately kept in the dark (about alleged “secret treasure”) by her husband, so she wouldn’t be in danger. She also has a raft of unanswered questions about John’s untimely end. 

“I don’t think he thought things would have ended the way they did and nor did I. I don’t know if he committed suicide; we talked every day after he was imprisoned near Barcelona. I don’t know how he got strung up.” 

“I don’t know if it was with a rope or a shoelace. In the prison report, it says that when they found him, he was still alive; he had a pulse and was breathing when they found him. A faint pulse, but a pulse is a pulse.”

John McAfee and wife Janice McAfee (supplied)
John McAfee and his wife, Janice McAfee, were very much in love. (Supplied)

Janice cannot believe that when he was found in the cell with a ligature or shoelace around his neck, medical practitioners there appeared to have attempted CPR on him without removing it first.

“I went to school to be a registered nursing assistant, and I know how to do CPR. Even in the movies, it’s the first thing you do: clear the airways.” 

“If somebody has something tight around their neck, that’s the last thing you would do. The first thing would be to remove the obstruction, but you can see from the prison video that didn’t happen. I don’t know if it was negligence or stupidity; it just feels sinister. But now I’m speculating, and I don’t want to do that.” 

Janice McAfee was frightened after John’s death

After her husband’s death, Janice was frightened for her safety. While John had told her that the authorities were only after him, not her, she was still worried that she would be a target for others.

“John always assured me that he wouldn’t tell me anything that would put me in danger; that was a comfort. He was public about the 31 terabytes of information that he apparently possessed, but he never shared that with me, and I have no idea where it is or whether it actually existed.”

“But I feel safe at the moment. I have nothing to hide, and I don’t even know how he really died, let alone what he possessed. If there was an independent autopsy, I can get some peace. There is an opportunity to do so, but it’s very expensive.”

I first met Janice and John at a blockchain conference in Malta in 2018. Like the crypto world at the time, it was chaos — but good chaos.

I interviewed him on stage, and it wasn’t my finest hour, or maybe it was. There was something about being near him that affected me and made me behave on stage in a more carefree manner. Maybe that’s what he could do, a Svengali of sorts.

Monty and John McAfee
Author Monty Munford got along famously with John McAfee. (Supplied)

John had been drinking whisky on the side of the stage but was sober and lucid. Janice was with him, protecting him from the thousands of people who wanted to speak to him.

She reminded me of Kim Kardashian when I interviewed her in Armenia — calm, collected and almost zen-like in her presence. I immediately liked Janice and trusted her.

Later after the on-stage interview had been completed, I was approached by a husband-and-wife camera team who was doing a documentary on crypto that was almost finished, but they would love a word with John. Could I help?

I wasn’t sure but texted Janice, and she said it was OK; John apparently liked me. I was invited to the penthouse suite and convinced the armed guard outside their room that I could vouch for the people with me. Again, not something I did every day.

John laughed when he saw me. “You again, for f–k’s sake!” But he was civil to the husband-and-wife team and invited me to join him on a private yacht in Valletta Harbour that evening.

John McAfee was a presidential candidate twice.
John McAfee was a presidential candidate twice. (Twitter)

What goes on on private yachts stays there, but we became friends there and then, mainly because I was the only one “not blowing smoke up my arse,” according to John. Further invitations would follow — notably to an island off North Carolina when he was still incognito and on the run.

We stayed in touch, and I conducted a couple of interviews with him during the pandemic when I was running a podcast. When I reached out to Janet on Twitter/X to see if she would be interested in doing her first interview, she said John considered me a friend and would be happy to do so.

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Janice McAfee still wants to recover John McAfee’s body

So, that’s the backstory to this interview, but what is more important is the journey from this point on. Janice is determined to follow John’s wishes that, if died, he wanted his body to be cremated. 

“His body is still in the morgue at the prison where he died. I don’t know why they decided to hold on to his body. They don’t need it. Two years ago, I had the money for an independent autopsy; a year ago, I had the money, but now I don’t.” 

Also read: ‘Holy shit, I’ve seen that!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs: NFT Creator

“I am surviving by taking little jobs here and there to feed myself; that’s not what’s important. What matters is what I can do for John. I’m not a victim — John was the victim — and I need that autopsy report, not to continue a fight against Spanish authorities, but to know what really happened to him.”

I put it to Janice that the perception was that John had run out of time and had come to the end of the road. An extradition order to the U.S. had been made hours before his death, and it was surely going to be hard for him in a U.S. prison. 

American authorities do not like people who thumb their noses at them, and an example would have been made of him. In some ways, didn’t his apparent suicide make complete sense to a proud man?

“We never talked about that. Ever. While he did tell me he wanted to be cremated, that was because he knew there were people who wanted him killed, but that’s not the point.” 

“I don’t want to be on one side or the other. Just tell me what the body says. I’m not trying to seek justice — there’s no such thing on this earth any more. I just want John’s wishes to be fulfilled.”

Janice is an American citizen, but she’s understandably in no rush to go back to the U.S. when she doesn’t know what her status is.

John McAfee Netflix documentary

A Netflix documentary called Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee was released last year and portrays her and John as fugitives, which is not something that Janice thinks represents the real story. 

It was more of a tale about the journalists themselves who tried to sensationalize a public figure and weren’t quite up to it. They centered themselves when the focus should have been on the real story of why McAfee felt disposed to be a so-called fugitive… or why Janice was staying with him.

“People forget very quickly, and I understand why because the world moves very fast nowadays. I just want him to be remembered properly, and that’s the least he deserves.”

Janice wants closure. She wants to cremate her husband, remember him with love, and work out what to do next.

I hope she gets her wish. Everybody deserves a chance to move on, and Janice McAfee much more than many others.

Monty Mumford

Monty Munford

Monty Munford writes regularly for the BBC, The Economist and City AM and has been a tech columnist for Forbes and The Telegraph. He also runs a growth and visibility consultancy and has appeared at more than 200 events and conferences, interviewing figures such as Tim Draper, the late John McAfee, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Kim Kardashian, Guns N’ Roses and many others.

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PM urged to take three key steps ahead of emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza

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PM urged to take three key steps ahead of emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza

British Palestinians have called on Sir Keir Starmer to take “immediate, concrete” steps on Gaza instead of “focusing on a symbolic gesture” of recognising it as a state ahead of an emergency cabinet meeting.

The prime minister has recalled his cabinet ministers from parliamentary recess for a meeting at 2pm, when they will discuss what the UK’s next steps should be, after Sir Keir held meetings with Donald Trump yesterday.

Ahead of the cabinet meeting, the British Palestinian Committee (BPC), which represents the experiences of Palestinians in the UK, has sent Sir Keir a letter urging him to take actions they say could make a real difference to people in Gaza.

Gaza latest: ‘Worse-case scenario of famine’ unfolding

The war has now been going on for 21 months after it was sparked by Hamas militants killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages on 7 October 2023. The militant group still holds 50 hostages, of whom only 20 are believed to be alive.

The BPC said recognising Palestine as a state is now “symbolic” as it “will not end the genocide and must not be used to deflect from accountability”.

Sir Keir has been under pressure from his own MPs and other UK political parties, notably since France said it will recognise Palestine as a state, but has so far resisted – saying recognition needs to be part of a wider peace plan.

He has so far refused to say whether “genocide” is taking place in Gaza – a claim Israel has vehemently denied.

Israel has paused fighting in three areas for another 10 hours today to help aid distribution, the third day it has done so amid mounting international condemnation of the scenes of hunger unfolding in Gaza.

David Mencer, a spokesperson for the Israeli government, said: “There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide… it simply doesn’t make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tonnes of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide.”

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Sky News on board Gaza aid plane

The BPC, an independent group, said the government has “not only a political and moral obligation, but a legal obligation” to take three steps.

They are:

• Preventing and punishing Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and to end “all complicity in it”

• Apply “immediate and comprehensive sanctions on Israel”

• Safeguard the rights to freedom of expression and assembly in the UK

More specifically, the group has called on Sir Keir to end “all forms of military collaboration, urgently review all public contracts to ensure they are not aiding unlawful occupation or genocidal acts, and support universal jurisdiction mandates”.

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The view from a plane dropping aid into Gaza

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi
Image:
The BPC said the UK could take immediate steps to help starving Gazans. Pic: Reuters

The group said these steps would help towards ending the starvation crisis in Gaza, which it said had been made possible “due to the impunity granted to” Israel and “compounded by the active military, economic and diplomatic support from states such as the UK”.

The group also accused the UK government of introducing “draconian legislation to limit the rights” of British citizens campaigning to end the atrocities “and British complicity in those atrocities” – in reference to Palestine Action being designated as a terrorist organisation.

‘Immediate steps’ Britain can take

Dr Sara Husseini, director of the BPC, said: “We wrote to the prime minister to remind the UK cabinet of their legal obligations towards the Palestinian people.”

She said there are a “number of immediate steps” the British government “can and should be taking”, as outlined in the letter.

Dr Husseini said 147 countries have already recognised Palestine as a state, and instead of “focusing on a symbolic gesture” it is essential the UK severs diplomatic ties with Israel, institutes a full arms embargo, applies comprehensive sanctions and cuts trade.

“Anything short of this amounts to complicity,” she added.

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Has Trump broken from Netanyahu over Gaza?

Ahead of the cabinet meeting, senior minister Peter Kyle told Sky News the PM had decided to call an emergency meeting “to discuss all of the actions that Britain can and should be taking at a time like this”.

He said recognising Palestine as a state is a manifesto commitment but the “real priority” right now is to try to get aid into Gaza.

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How Corbyn’s new party is preparing for battle – and where insiders think they could win

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How Corbyn's new party is preparing for battle - and where insiders think they could win

Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new party will offer “unapologetically socialist” policies, with the pair to embark on a nationwide tour to listen to ideas, Sky News understands.

The former Labour MPs are aiming to hold the party’s first conference in the autumn to help decide what it stands for and models of leadership.

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Ms Sultana told Sky News its policies will include “democratic public ownership of key industries, universal free childcare, rent controls, free public transport and much more”.

Mr Corbyn, the ex-Labour leader, added there is “huge appetite for the policies that are needed to fix society”, including “wealth redistribution, housing justice, and a foreign policy based on peace and human rights”.

The autumn conference will be for paid members rather than those who have simply signed up to the party’s website.

How to translate signups into membership, and exactly how members will have their say on policies, will be discussed as part of a “founding process” over the next few months.

This will involve local engagement with communities up and down the country, including rallies and meetings fronted by Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana, as well as “other public figures”, a source close to the party told Sky News.

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Corbyn’s new party shakes the left

Election goals

While there are many details to be fleshed out, including the name, the pair’s “primary aim” is to make gains at the local elections next May, it is understood.

Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana announced their new venture last Thursday, and claim more than half a million people have signed up, but “Your Party” is only an interim name. Members will decide the official one in due course.

Insiders have claimed they are attracting support from a wide geographical area, the strongest bases being in London, the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

It remains to be seen whether those who have expressed an interest will go on to join the party.

However, there is a risk it could eat into Labour’s vote share by attracting those on the left unhappy with the direction of the Starmer government, particularly on issues like Gaza and welfare.

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Corbyn open to ideas on new party name

Mr Corbyn led the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020 before being suspended following a row over a report into antisemitism. He retained his seat in Islington North after standing in last year’s general election as an independent.

Ms Sultana was suspended as a Labour MP last year after rebelling against the government over the two-child benefit cap, and announced she was quitting the party to launch a new one with Mr Corbyn earlier this month.

Polling by More in Common before the new outfit was officially announced suggested it could take 10% of the vote at a general election, mainly from Labour and the Greens.

This has raised the prospect of Mr Corbyn striking a deal with the Greens, where both sides would agree to stand down in seats where the other has a stronger chance of winning

Could Farage benefit?

The Islington North MP has suggested he is open to collaboration with progressive parties, but it is understood that electoral strategy will be informed by conference. It is also not clear if the Greens would agree to any such pact.

Some MPs are worried the split in the left vote could make it easier for Nigel Farage, already ahead in the polls, to enter Downing Street.

Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, told Sky News: “The thing I’m worried about with regard to the unnamed but already chaotic Corbyn Party is that they let Reform through the middle by taking votes off a progressive centre left party like Labour.

“They won’t be a threat electorally, but they may well let the radical right wing into power by splitting the vote.”

However, Labour was dismissive of the threat the party posed, with a source saying: “The electorate has twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn-led party.”

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Corporations have acquired 1% of Ether supply: Standard Chartered

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Corporations have acquired 1% of Ether supply: Standard Chartered

Corporations have acquired 1% of Ether supply: Standard Chartered

Corporations have accumulated 1% of all Ether since June, with Standard Chartered forecasting 10% ownership as institutional appetite for ETH continues to grow.

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