John McAfee’s latest hideout: tech outlaw hid in spanish ghost hotel

John McAfee’s Latest Hideout: Tech Outlaw Locked himself in Spanish ‘Ghost Hotel’ with Secret Bitcoin Mining Operation While Claiming to Roam Europe
- McAfee spent the final months before his October arrest in a bizarre hotel
- It was impossible to book a room at the hotel, where no one answered the phone
- The hotel was raided in 2018 after the Russian oligarch installed a laser on the roof
- Cops Discover Secret Bitcoin Mining Operation Running In The Basement
- Web sleuths followed McAfee to the hotel using images on his social media
John McAfee, the outlaw antivirus pioneer who died in a Spanish prison on Wednesday, is spending his last months at liberty in a mysterious “ghost hotel” where he was found by web detectives.
While McAfee claimed to be in Belarus and fake an arrest in Norway for wearing a thong as a mask, he was actually staying at the Daurada Park Hotel in Cambrils, Catalonia, according to the New York Post.
McAfee appears to have been in hiding in the hotel from March 2020 until his arrest in October, and was arrested by amateur sleuths who spotted Spanish goods and images of the Catalan coast in his photos on Twitter.
At the hotel, no one answered the phone and it was impossible to make a reservation, according to El Confidencial, which led the Spanish newspaper to label Daurada Park a “ghost hotel”.
John McAfee, outlaw antivirus pioneer who died in Spanish prison on Wednesday, spent his last months at liberty in mysterious “ghost hotel” in Catalonia

While McAfee claimed to go to Belarus and fake an arrest in Norway for wearing a thong as a mask, he was actually staying at the Daurada Park Hotel (above)
Daurada Park is located in a small fishing village on the Spanish coast, about 70 miles southwest of Barcelona.
TripAdvisor’s latest reviews for the hotel were published in late 2016 and are extremely negative, with one comparing it to “Stephen King’s the Shining Overlook Hotel” and a “Spanish version of Hotel California”.
Spanish media report that the hotel was later bought by an anonymous Russian businessman, who caught the authorities’ attention by installing a large laser on the roof pointing skyward.
In 2018, Spanish police raided the hotel after rumors circulated that it was being used as a brothel.
What the cops found surprised them. Instead of prostituting itself, the hotel operated a large Bitcoin mining operation in the basement and parking lots, according to Diari de Tarragona.
The laser on the roof was apparently a ploy to explain the enormous power consumption of the computers in the basement, which made it possible to earn Bitcoin by processing transactions.
Police appear to have been taken aback by the operation, which did not appear illegal at first glance, and it is not clear whether charges have ever been laid.

Some detectives spotted Spanish wine and bottled water in this photo, taken when McAfee claimed to be in Belarus

Twitter users noted that McAfee was consuming a Spanish brand of whipped cream when he claimed to be in Belarus

Others have linked the views in his photos to locations on the Spanish coast
McAfee’s connection to the hotel was exposed by amateur web sleuths on Twitter, most of whom have now had their accounts suspended.
Last spring, McAfee claimed to be on “lockdown” in Belarus, but posted photos that eagle-eyed followers said contained Spanish goods.
McAfee’s photos showed beaches and balconies in the background that detectives were able to trace all the way to Cambrils, and eventually Daurada Park.
Faced with the inconsistencies, McAfee went wild on Twitter, claiming he had “visited Spain for a few days.”
But it appears he used the mystery hotel as a base of operations for months before his arrest for tax and fraud charges in the United States.
McAfee was arrested at Barcelona airport in early October as he was about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport.
He was languishing in a Spanish prison until a court this week approved his extradition to the United States to face the charges.
McAfee was found dead in his cell on Wednesday in what authorities said appeared to be suicide by hanging.