Janice McAfee slams media reports of husband's 'suicide', says investigation is 'still ongoing'

Janice McAfee, the widow of tech entrepreneur John McAfee, is slamming media reports claiming her late husband died by suicide.

John McAfee was found dead in a prison near Barcelona, Spain, hours after a judge had approved his extradition to the United States on June 23. Spanish authorities are conducting an autopsy on McAfee's body, but told the Associated Press that everything at the scene in his cell indicated that the 75-year-old killed himself. An anonymous source familiar with the investigation told AP that a suicide note had been found in McAfee's pocket but declined to comment further.

"The story of John's 'suicide' was already prepared and presented to the public before I or his attorneys were even notified of his death. Words cannot describe how enraged I am at the fact that I had to hear the news of John's death via a DM on Twitter," her statement reads. "And now it's being conveniently reported that there was a 'suicide note' found in his pocket, something that was not mentioned when I collected John's belongings from the prison and another piece of information the media somehow got a hold of before myself and John's attorneys."

MCAFEE WIDOW DISPUTES REPORTED SUICIDE

McAfee was arrested at Barcelona's airport on Oct. 7, two days after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged him for evading more than $4 million in taxes between fiscal years 2016 and 2018 and failing to file tax returns.

The Department of Justice alleged McAfee made over $23 million due to materially false and misleading statements about cryptocurrencies. McAfee was also charged in March by the Southern District of New York with fraud and money laundering conspiracy crimes related to two cryptocurrency schemes that netted his team $13 million.

Before his death, McAfee had argued in a hearing that the charges against him were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the U.S. The judge dropped seven of the 10 counts in the initial indictment.

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McAfee said in her statement that her husband "should have never spent a day in prison let alone nearly nine months."

"I spoke with him twice the morning of the 23rd and in our last conversations we spoke about the courts decision to extradite him to the U.S. This decision did not come as a surprise to John, myself or his lawyers," she wrote. "We were prepared for the Spanish courts to grant the request for extradition, we had a plan of action in place to begin the appeal process and we discussed plans for the next stages of his legal fight. The extradition would have not happened immediately, it would have taken many months at least."   

She added that he was a fighter with "so much more fight left in him." 

"He told me to be strong and not to worry, we would continue to fight all the necessary appeals," she continued. "His last words were I love you, I will call you in the evening but sadly that call never happened." 

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A court spokeswoman for the Catalonia region told AP on June 23 that a forensic team would need to perform toxicology tests on McAfee’s body to determine the official cause of death and that results could take "days or weeks."

While expressing her thanks for the condolences and love she has received on social media following her husband's death, she emphasized that she remains focused on finding answers.

"The investigation into John's death is still ongoing but I will share what information I can when I can," Janice added. "Until then, I do not accept the "suicide" story that has been spread by the malignant cancer that is the [mainstream media]. They and their unnamed sources are not to be trusted."

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

FOX Business' Jonathan Garber and the Associated Press contributed to this report