CYBER security pioneer John McAfee was reportedly locked in a mysterious “ghost hotel” in a Spanish resort which he turned into a secret cryptocurrency farm.

The 75-year-old, who was found dead in a Barcelona cell last night, said he was in Belarus last year but was found by internet detectives who examined his Instagram and tweeted images and pinpointed its location.

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Thanks to a group of computer enthusiasts turned detectives, it emerged that McAfee had moved into the Daurada Park Hotel, a rickety old building located by the roadside in Cambrils, northeastern Spain. , in Catalonia.

Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported at the time of McAfee’s arrest in October that he had been living in what had been dubbed a “ghost hotel” since at least March 2020.

Other reports suggest the British-born antivirus pioneer operated from there for two years.

According to local media, McAfee is spending his time in the basement.

The tycoon had tricked people into believing he was based somewhere in Belarus.

But his Instagram post and tweets were aimed at giving the hotel its location in Catalonia.

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After he slipped and said he was on a lockdown in Spain, a group of eagle-eyed Spaniards decided to track him down.

Analyzing the images, they deduced that he was not in the eastern European country of Belarus.

They found out that when he claimed to have dinner in Belarus, he was in fact in Spain, with bottles of Bezoya Spanish water or in a car with ATO cream that is also made there.

A bottle of Catalan Sumarroca cava was also spotted.

They also found the beaches he was photographed on using Google Maps. They then identified him at the Daurada Park hotel.

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A guest who stayed at the two-story, 110-room hotel before it closed, described it as the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining.

In a TripAdvisor article, they said: “It must have had a moment of splendor and grace in the 80s.

“In 2016, believe me, it was scary. You will feel that, just like Jack Torrance, it is easy to lose your mind.”

Local and regional police discovered in 2018 that the hotel was operating a cryptocurrency mining operation in its basement and parking lots.

The hotel had a building permit, although it was rumored that it was going to be used to turn it into a “macro mess”.

But rather than prostitutes, savvy police uncovered an elaborate cryptocurrency mining operation using dozens of computers.

To access it, you had to pass two checks that required entering your fingerprint.

BIOMETRIC SAFETY MEASURES

The sophisticated facility also featured biometric security measures for access to the various levels.

This would be the very first cryptocurrency mining operation ever to be operated in this part of Catalonia.

The owner of the building was a Russian businessman, according to El Confidencial.

But McAfee boasted of employing Russian staff at the time.

The entrepreneur fled his secret hiding place and was arrested last October at Barcelona International Airport and locked up.

Just hours before he was suspected of committing suicide, a Spanish court approved McAfee’s extradition to the United States on tax-related charges that could have taken him to 30 years in prison.

Last year, Tennessee prosecutors charged McAfee with tax evasion after failing to report income generated from promoting cryptocurrency while doing advisory work, as well as profits from speaking engagements and public speaking. sale of the rights to his story for a documentary.

The charges covered the three fiscal years from 2016 to 2018, according to the Spanish court ruling on Wednesday.

In one of his last tweets published on June 16, McAfee denied holding any hidden assets, claiming that the fortune he had earned in an alleged cryptocurrency scam had “evaporated.”

He said, “I have nothing. However, I do not regret anything.

Shortly after his arrest last year, McAfee tweeted that if he died in an alleged suicide, a conspiracy would be to blame.

“I’m happy here. I have friends. The food is good. Everything is fine.

“Know that if I hang myself, like Epstein, it won’t be my fault,” he tweeted, referring to theories that sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself in his cell in New York. York, as decided by a coroner. “

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He was pictured in prison in 2019 after his arrest

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If you are concerned with any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans toll free at 116 123.