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Inside The Bizarre Life Of John McAfee

Inside The Bizarre Life Of John McAfee

The tech millionaire was found dead in his Spanish jail cell this week

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

John McAfee was found dead in his Spanish jail cell yesterday (23 June).

The millionaire made his fortune from creating the anti-virus software that many of us use to protect our devices: McAfee.

But aside from being a massively successful tech entrepreneur, the 75-year-old was perhaps best known for his wild personal life, from drink and drugs to being on the run from the CIA.

Born in Gloucestershire, UK, McAfee grew up in the US, spending a great deal of his childhood in Salem, Virginia.

But following the death of his father, he began dabbling in hard drugs and was known to go on day-long acid trips.

PA

While working as a computer programmer in the 1980s, he once did a whole bag of an intense psychedelic called DMT, and freaked the hell out., later found hiding behind a trash can in downtown St. Louis.

Needless to say, he was fired from his position.

In the 90s, he made his fortune, spotting a gap in the cybersecurity market when he received the first virus for the PC while working for American aerospace manufacturer Lockheed.

He went onto sell McAfee to tech giant Intel, personally making $84 million (£60.3m) from the deal in 1994.

John McAfee/Twitter

After the economic crash in 2008, McAfee suffered financially and sold his belongings, moving to a picturesque property in Belize.

And it's there that the stories became even more bizarre.

Rumours of drug-taking, orgies in the jungle and self-administered testosterone shots in the bum (to keep aging at bay, apparently) began to circulate, with McAfee often pictured surrounded by women in bikinis.

He once told The Sun: "Some people think it is horrendous that I lived with seven women aged between 18 and 25. People can think what they want. The women all got along."

Things then took a dark twist when McAfee was accused of having drugged and raped a former business partner- something he strenuously denied.

And over the past decade, McAfee has become increasingly paranoid and convinced that the authorities were out to kill him.

John McAfee/Twitter

In 2012, having set up an antibiotics firm, McAfee became a person of interest for the police in Belize, with cops raiding his lab and finding $21,000 in cash but no illegal drugs.

Then, when his neighbour Gregory Faull was shot and killed, officers went to McAfee's home, however, he had already fled to Guatemala.

He was later arrested after Vice reporters published pictures of him with GPS coordinates attached to them, and he was sent back to the US.

In an effort to clear his name, McAfee shared a very strange parody video to YouTube, in which he denied killing his neighbour, allegations of sexual abuse and drug manufacturing.

YouTube

Later, he would claim that he was poisoned in a botched 'assassination attempt,' sharing pictures from hospital on Twitter along with accusations the CIA were after him.

"I am more difficult to kill than anyone can possibly imagine," he said.

And in recent years, he had become embroiled in a game of cat and mouse with the US government, which was chasing him for unpaid taxes from money he had made as a private consultant, as well as speaking engagements between 2016 and 2018.

During this time, McAfee had also sold the rights to his life story for a film, with Zac Efron reportedly in line to play him.

But despite this, he wasn't one to exactly lay very low.

John McAfee was found dead in his Spanish jail cell this week.
PA

In August last year, he was detained by police at an airport in Norway after refusing to wear anything other than a black lace thong as a face mask.

He wrote on social media: "I am being detained in Norway. Trivial issue but waiting for high level beaurocrats to arrive. Slow b******s, as you know.

"My Coronavirus mask is the problem. I am insisting it is the safest available and I'm refusing to wear anything else - for my health's sake. Authority!?!?!?!?"

McAfee was eventually charged with tax evasion, which carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, and he was arrested in Barcelona in October 2020 while attempting to board a plane to Turkey.

In March this year, he was also indicted on fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges, which related to two cryptocurrency schemes he was allegedly involved in.

McAfee was found dead just hours after Spain's National Court authorised his extradition to the US.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: CIA, UK News, US News, Nasa, Drugs, Technology