Why Prominent Bitcoin Backer John McAfee's Body Hasn't Been Laid To Rest, Months After Death

Bitcoin BTC/USD bull and McAfee Corp MCFE founder John McAfee’s body is still in a prison morgue freezer in Spain as his family members engage in a legal battle.

What Happened: McAfee’s ex-wife and daughter are both in a legal fight over his remains while a judge in Spain conducts an investigation into his death, according to a MarketWatch report.

Joy Athanasiou, a lawyer engaged by Jen, the daughter of McAfee, said he expected friendly negotiations with Javier Villalba, the lawyer hired by McAfee’s ex-wife Janice McAfee but talks stalled as both lawyers could not reach Janice McAfee, as per the report.

Athanasiou told MarketWatch that the body has been sitting in a freezer all these months.

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Why It Matters: McAfee was found dead in a Spanish prison cell in June 2021. At the time of his death, he was 75 years old.

The founder of the antivirus firm reportedly hanged himself to death hours after a court cleared his extradition to the United States where he was indicted on conspiracy to commit commodities and securities fraud, among other charges.

In July 2019, McAfee said Bitcoin would touch $1 million in price by the end of 2020. He later backtracked on that claim, as per a Cointelegraph report.

There is no clarity on what McAfee’s ex-wife wishes to do with the body, while Jen wanted his remains to be cremated and transported to the United States. McAfee’s daughter has given up on her legal claim to the body to prevent additional delays to the funeral, according to MarketWatch.

The two sides are reportedly not in agreement over family heirlooms and sentimental items.

In December, Janice McAfee posted a note on her Twitter profile in which she said “since John’s death there has been an effort to guarantee I would not make it to my next birthday although I believe the ultimate goal is to ensure that I do not leave Spain alive.”

She wrote that the investigation into McAfee’s death continues its “tediously slow crawl” and that is what is keeping her in Spain because they won’t release his remains until the investigation closes. 

Price Action: On Thursday, McAfee shares closed unchanged at $25.79 and fell 0.35% in the after-hours session. At press time, BTC traded 1.13% higher at $37,320.05 over 24 hours.

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Photo: Courtesy of NullSession via Wikimedia