Eccentric security software guru turned Bitcoin entrepreneur John McAfee has said that he is stuck ‘unwillingly’ in Cuba, where he has issued a series of threats to expose ‘corrupt’ U.S. officials he claims are unjustly pursuing him.
McAfee, 73, took to the high seas in January, fleeing his heavily fortified Tennessee compound with wife Janice, 36, claiming a grand jury was preparing to indict him on tax-related charges.
Life in the Caribbean has also allowed McAfee to avoid a $25million judgement in a wrongful death lawsuit over the 2012 murder of his neighbor in Belize – a crime he was never charged with and has always strenuously denied.
Meanwhile, McAfee has pressed on with his campaign for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination for 2020, vowing run ‘from exile’ by utilizing surrogates with ‘an iPad strapped to their head’ to enable video-conferencing.
But in recent days a dark pall has fallen over McAfee’s sunny Caribbean sojourn, with the computer whiz claiming that corrupt governmental forces are hounding him and his small entourage aboard his ‘Freedom Boat’.
McAfee has been living aboard his ‘Freedom Boat’ in the Caribbean since January, fleeing what he says is a pending indictment on tax-related charges in the U.S.
McAfee and his wife Janice are seen on June 9, as she debates a ‘disbeliever’ at a bar
On Wednesday, McAfee revealed that one of his teleconference-enabled ‘body doubles’, Jay Pizzle, had disappeared on June 7 while in route to deliver a keynote speech in Barcelona.
‘No-one’s heard from him. I’m not a conspiricy [sic] theorist, but I don’t believe in co-incidence. I have no clue. But would the U.S. go that far to silence me?’ McAfee said.
‘We spoke with Jay the night before he was supposed to leave. All was fine and he was excited to go on the cruise,’ tweeted McAfee in an update on Saturday.
‘His flight was to leave the following morning. We know only that he did not show up for his flight and he was not seen at the airport,’ said McAfee.
McAfee has responded with wide-ranging threats to release information he says will expose corruption at the highest levels of the CIA, as well as other U.S. authorities.
‘If I’m arrested or disappear, 31+ terrabytes of incriminating data will be released to the press,’ McAfee said in one recent tweet.
On Friday, he McAfee issued a video statement vowing to release a web page detailing corruption within the U.S. government.
‘There is corruption that goes far deeper, however, and that is the corruption of those who reach for more power, in order to be more corrupt,’ he said.
McAfee has been waylaid in Cuba due to a mysterious fire on his ‘Freedom Boat’. He has strongly warned any authorities pursuing him to back off
McAfee is seen addressing a Coinsbank Blockchain Cruise Asia conference event in Thailand last year. This year he sent a surrogate whom he says has mysteriously disappeared
Later in the day he released a list of five senators and 25 U.S. representative whom he said should be ‘immediately recalled’ based on their voting records.
Meanwhile, McAfee has been engaged in a bitter feud with the Assistant Police Commissioner for the country of the Bahamas, whom McAfee accused of ‘blatant corruption.’
McAfee published information that he claimed showed a secret bank account controlled by the police official, and details of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of deposits.
Coincidentally – or perhaps not – McAfee’s Freedom Boat mysteriously caught fire earlier this week after departing Exuma, forcing him to make an emergency port call in Cuba.
‘I am unwillingly in Cuba and the US Government is stalking me. Belize is near,’ he said on Twitter Thursday, referencing the controversy over the death of his neighbor in the South American country.
Still, McAfee says he has found moments of solace, posting a video of he and his wife dancing lovingly in what appears to be a Cuban restaurant as a violinist serenades them.
McAfee and his wife Janice (together left) took a moment to dance together on Wednesday (right) during their forced stopover in Cuba
McAfee appeared contemplative as a violinist serenaded him in Cuba this week
‘I let [loose] last night. The universe graced me with a violinist with a soothing bow and string. God is good,’ he said.
The happy couple met in 2013, a day after McAfee was deported from Guatemala while fleeing Belize.
Janice was working as a prostitute in Miami Beach when McAfee hired her for a night, before rescuing her from a violent pimp and falling madly in love, the couple have openly revealed.
They have now been married for six years, and Janice is serving as his presidential campaign’s director of media relations.
She did not immediately respond to a message from DailyMail.com on Saturday.
As for McAfee, he announced on Saturday morning he would be disappearing from Twitter for about 48 hours, his movements and purpose unknown.
‘Going dark now. All is well. See you folks in a couple of days,’ he tweeted.