Meet Joe McCann: the high-flying crypto trader held in Tanzania after sudden death of his influencer fiancée Ashly Robinson

Joe McCann got into crypto trading and, within two years, he seemed to have it made. McCann’s fund Asymmetric raised money in 2022 from the likes of Marc Andreessen and Circle and, during the crypto boom period that marked Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the fund nearly doubled in value. But then things unraveled.

By July of 2025, Asymmetric’s liquid fund had lost significant value, leading McCann to funnel investors into a new venture that failed to pan out. Then, early this month, reports emerged that McCann’s fiancée, the influencer Ashly Robinson, had died while on vacation with McCann at a luxury resort in Tanzania. Robinson’s death was initially attributed to suicide, but the police have reportedly seized McCann’s passport and are questioning him as part of an ongoing investigation.

Robinson, who goes by Ashlee Jenae online, took up with McCann in November 2024, one of her Instagram posts suggests. At that time, McCann’s crypto firm was at the zenith of its success. McCann, who did not return multiple text messages seeking comment, had previously been married in 2018 to Shea Jackson, a woman 10 years his junior who worked in marketing. The pair eventually split, and two founders who took venture investments from Asymmetric’s venture fund told Fortune that some of McCann’s stake had been transferred to Jackson. Jackson did not return a request for comment. McCann also has a daughter, according to his X posts.

McCann began bringing Robinson, who was 15 years his junior, to crypto events, and she began posting images of him on her social media accounts. Robinson’s online profiles show her and McCann jetsetting among exotic locations as Robinson embraced the “soft life,” a self-care focused social media trend. “Chapter 31 and I’m exactly where i need to be,” read her final Instagram post, which showed her feeding a giraffe in Tanzania. Two days earlier, the 30-year-old had posted a video of McCann, 45, proposing to her as a lion stalked forward in the foreground.

Read more: https://fortune.com/2026/04/16/joe-mccann-crypto-fund-manager-tanzania-fiance-influencer-ashly-robinson/