Q24N – You may not know John McAfee, of his eccentrics, but you are sure to have the name and may even have your computer you are using to read this story, protected by the genius of the man, a pioneer antivirus software creator.
McAfee, 75, was found dead in a prison cell in Brians 2 Penitentiary Center, Barcelona, Spain, reportedly having died by suicide on Wednesday afternoon, June 23, 2021, just hours after the Spanish high court authorized his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges, Reuters reported.
McAfee faced charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleged he made over US$23.1 million in undisclosed income from false and misleading cryptocurrency recommendations.
In 2017, McAfee, who made his fortune in the ’80s and ’90s through his antivirus software, told ABC News that he had “wasted” much of the money.
In 2016 and 2020, the eccentric figure unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. His failure was at least partially on account of being overshadowed by developments in McAfee’s wide-ranging personal life.
In 2016, McAfee had been named a “person of interest” in the unsolved 2012 murder of American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull, in Belize. He denied any involvement, telling USA Today in 2015 a hit squad was pursuing him for his criticism of the Belize government.
Faull, a neighbor of McAfee’s, was found dead of a gunshot wound on 11 November 2012, at his home on the island of Ambergris Caye, the largest island in Belize.
McAfee fled the Caribbean country by boat for neighboring Guatemala, where, after he was arrested for illegally entering that country, he faked a heart attack to avoid being extradited back to Belize, he told ABC.
His lawyers were able to, because of the stunt, buy enough time to file an appeal. But he was eventually deported to the U.S. instead of Belize, though McAfee was never arrested or charged in the case.
McAfee immediately began a relationship with Janice Dyson, a former prostitute whom he married in 2013. After a fallout, Dyson left McAfee, only to return after she says she was blackmailed into facilitating a kidnapping plot which she alternately helped and hindered.
“Even though I was cooperating, I was still trying to suggest to him, without telling him, to be careful.[But] I would get in the way. A lot of the attempts that happened in our home, I hindered those from happening, blocked them from happening, because I’m in the house too,” she told Newsweek in 2017.
In 2019, McAfee and five others were detained in the Dominican Republic after officials suspected the group of traveling on a yacht “carrying high-caliber weapons, ammunition and military-style gear,” the Associated Press reported.
McAfee was arrested in Spain in October 2020, over U.S. tax evasion charges. U.S. federal prosecutors brought criminal and civil charges alleging McAfee failed to pay income taxes over a four-year period (from 2014 through 2018), alleging McAfee failed to file tax returns and evaded tax liability by funneling millions in income into bank accounts and cryptocurrency held under different names.
“I’m a mad man to some people because I don’t follow the normal rules,” McAfee told ABC News in 2017 ahead of a “20/20” report.
“You know, the drummer that leads me is an odd drummer, but I follow the sound,” McAfee told ABC.
John David McAfee – 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021 – was a British-American computer programmer and businessman. In 1987 he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation.
McAfee resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company, becoming the company’s most vocal critic in later years, urging consumers to uninstall the company’s anti-virus software, which he characterized as bloatware.
McAfee has also disavowed the company’s continued use of his name in branding, a practice that has persisted in spite of a short-lived corporate rebrand attempt under Intel ownership.
McAfee’s wealth peaked in 2007 at US$100 million, before his fortunes plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008. His personal and business interests included smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, and recreational drug use. He resided for a number of years in Belize.
According to Wikipedia, McAfee’s death has sparked internet conspiracy theories in a manner resembling “Epstein didn’t kill himself”.
On multiple occasions before his death, McAfee asserted that if he were ever to be found dead by hanging, it would mean he was murdered. Minutes after the report of his death, an image of the letter Q was posted to his Instagram feed (as a deceased person, his account has now been taken down), possibly in reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
These theories have been referred to by the press as speculative, “bizarre” and “baseless”, with their primary source of evidence mainly consisting of McAfee’s own statements.
Editor’s note: The letter Q or QAnon are not related, connected or in any way part of this publication
