John McAfee Dies in His Prison Cell in Barcelona
On Wednesday, the anti-virus creator John McAfee was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona, Spain. He died of hanging and was concluded as suicide according to McAfee’s lawyer. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful according to a statement by the Catalan Justice Department.
This unfortunate event happened after the Spanish government authorized his extradition to the US to face his tax evasion charges. He was also facing a separate charge in a cryptocurrency fraud case.
This is a bit surprising since, in one of his tweets in 2019, he claimed that he will never commit suicide like Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was a convicted sex offender who killed himself while in prison in 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.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) October 15, 2020
In another tweet, the mogul revealed that he has been receiving “subtle messages” from US officials. He added that if he was ever found dead by suicide that he did not kill himself.
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
McAfee was also facing a homicide case in Belize after his neighbor Greg Faull, a retired Florida contractor, was found dead. He denied the accusation and fled to Guatemala where he sought asylum but was rejected by the Guatemalan government.
He was intercepted by the Spanish authorities in the Barcelona airport while about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport. On a hearing last month, he appealed to the Spanish government and stated that he was a mere victim of injustice by the US government.
“I am hoping that the Spanish court will see the injustice of this, the United States wants to use me as an example.”
The controversy was surrounding his untimely death after a “Q” image was posted on this Instagram 30 minutes before his reported death. The “Q” image was apparently in reference to the “QAnon”, a conspiracy theory allegedly related to former US President Donald Trump.
His death came as a shock to everyone including his lawyers. Andrew B. Gordon, one of Mr. McAfee’s lawyers commented on McAfee’s untimely death.
“When I heard of John’s impending extradition, my team was fully prepared to fight for his innocence before the United States courts. We knew he would appreciate the opportunity to share his story and put the false charges against him to rest. Only hours later, we were shocked to learn of his untimely death.”
Bitcoin Surges Following El Salvador Airdrop
The price of BTC (bitcoin) jumped by 5% following an announcement for a bitcoin airdrop by Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president on Thursday. It can be recalled that the country was the first ever to embrace BTC (bitcoin) as legal tender.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 25, 2021
The implementation of the Bitcoin Law was set to take effect on September 7 of this year. Anyone who will download the Chivo e-wallet app will get $30 worth of bitcoin. Users will need to verify their identity via the app’s face recognition to become illegible. The app will be available for download on iOS and Android.
The Bitcoin Law was passed by more than 70% of the legislative members on June 9.
The move was a necessity for the country to cater to 70% of the country’s population that has no access to banking facilities.
Despite being declined by the World Bank on its request for the implementation of the cryptocurrency as legal tender, Bukele leadership remains unfazed. But he found an ally with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). The financial institution has announced that they would aid El Salvador in terms of the technical aspects concerning BTC (bitcoin).
Following this, Athena Bitcoin, a digital currency and bitcoin company that owns and operates several business lines around digital currency is reportedly installing 1,500 crypto ATMs in the country. In a statement by Matias Goldenhorn, Athena’s director for Latin America with CoinDesk stated:
“If adoption gets traction, 1,500 ATMs is roughly one in every 4,000 people. In the U.S. we used to do one in every 150,000, then one in every 100,000 … But here it could be even more.”
With El Salvador following the lead, which country will be next? Your thoughts.
Famous Rapper The Game Faces Judgment on Unregistered ICO
Jayceon Taylor a.k.a. The Game faces a $12M judgment for his alleged involvement in an illegal initial coin offering.
The rapper was engaged in the endorsement of Paragon Coin ICO on his social media account in 2017. The blockchain project is a revolutionary new community-focused for the promotion of the legal cannabis industry. The PRG ICO raised a total of $70 million from April 15, 2017, and Oct. 15, 2017.
He was first charged in 2018 but was later dismissed after the plaintiff’s failure to establish his employment by the Paragon. But he was later indicted after the complaint was amended after sufficient evidence was provided which was confirmed by United States Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White. He stated:
“Taylor acted for his own gain or for Paragon’s gain, and can now be considered a team member and “statutory seller.”
On June 23, in a court order, Judge White stated that the rapper is now liable for $12 million-plus pre-and post-judgment interest.
The Game was not the first celebrity to be fined by US authorities with crypto-related crimes. Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled were both recently fined in connection with the Centra Tech ICO scam. The duo was also banned from promoting securities online for 3 and 2 years respectively. In February, former action movie star Steven Seagal was also fined in 2020 for endorsing Bitcoiin2Gen.
Africrypt Founders Missing Along with $3.6B Bitcoin
Raees and Ameer Cajee, founders of Africrypt, a South African crypto firm, were reported missing along with $3.6B worth of bitcoins.
The brothers founded the firm in 2019 with its tagline as “the easiest access into the world of cryptocurrency”.
In April, the firm announced that a breach has happened on the platform’s system and urged its customers to keep the matter confidential from authorities. It even claimed that it would make it harder to recover the missing funds.
Unknowingly, the founders have allegedly transferred the investors’ funds from the company’s accounts using the services from “tumblers” that enable crypto users to conceal the origins of their cryptocurrencies by sending coins into a single pool and “mixing” with other users’ funds. After committing the scam, the brothers fled to the UK. Their whereabouts are still unknown and the website was already shut down.
According to reports, most of the firm’s investors are based in other countries although a thousand of their customers are from South Africa.
