{"id":187727,"date":"2021-06-28T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=187727"},"modified":"2021-06-26T07:50:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T06:50:55","slug":"farewell-to-anti-virus-guru-john-mcafee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/06\/farewell-to-anti-virus-guru-john-mcafee\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Anti-Virus Guru John Mcafee"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wild, High-Living, Paranoid, Millionaire Genius I Was Glad to Call My Neighbour<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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John McAfee founder of McAfee anti virus\/security software was the keynote speaker for the 10th anniversary Rocky Mountain Information Security Conference at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
\u00a9 Cyrus McCrimmon\/The Denver Post via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Jun 2021 – <\/em>The suicide of tech entreprenuer John McAfee in his Spanish prison cell, as he awaited deportation to the USA over tax fraud, draws a curtain on the madcap escapades of the most colourful character I\u2019ve ever come across.<\/p>\n

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The death<\/a> of McAfee is the final chapter in the mad, bad life of a man who became my neighbour 13 years ago. We were both living on Ambergris Caye, a tropical island 16 miles off the Caribbean coast of Belize in Central America. He\u2019d picked up what had been a long-empty property \u2013 after the former owners had died at sea while unwisely trying to save two catamarans during a hurricane \u2013 which was a couple hundred metres up the beach from my own hideaway.<\/p>\n

The nearest town of San Pedro was five miles south, the only road a boggy, often impassable track, and those neighbours who weren\u2019t operating beachside dive bars or boutique resorts chose to keep themselves to themselves. It was perfect.<\/p>\n

By the time we met on Ambergris Caye in 2008, the Brit-born entrepreneur had tired of the intense upkeep demanded by a millionaire lifestyle. He\u2019d flogged his 1,000 acres on Hawaii and the private airport in New Mexico, having sold his eponymous software company to Intel in 1994, and was looking for the quiet life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Also:<\/span> \u2018If I suicide myself, I didn\u2019t\u2019: Supporters dredge up old McAfee tweets to cry foul over death as his Instagram page posts \u2018Q\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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I\u2019d occasionally encounter McAfee once he moved in, buzzing past in his boat with a friendly wave, or a hearty \u2018Hi, neighbour!\u2019 He often busied himself in his yard or sat on his bungalow deck smoking a cigar with a cool drink, a young girl wearing a bikini by his side, as I walked past en route to my sundowner.<\/p>\n

He seemed relaxed among the neat collection of small white bungalows, interconnected by walkways festooned with bougainvillea and surrounded with a neat, white picket fence. It offered the sort of communal living environment<\/a> that McAfee, a well-travelled and self-proclaimed \u2018proto-hippy\u2019, loved. Accommodation, cooking area, somewhere to meditate and practise yoga. Ideal.<\/p>\n

I would have tried to be more congenial, but the heavily-armed security detail that patrolled his property put me off. I did wonder why anyone sitting on a dock staring out into the beautiful waters of the western Caribbean would need an M16 by their side. It felt prudent not to ask.<\/p>\n

Everyone on Ambergris Caye has dogs. Loud, barking, dangerous animals. The more badass the better. They aren\u2019t pets, they are protection and McAfee had 11 of them. But it was when four were poisoned that the trouble began.<\/p>\n

Because one of our neighbours who lived next door to McAfee, a cheerfully beefy Orlando bar-owner named Greg Faull, was found murdered on his property, executed with a single shot to the back of the head on November 11, 2012. Everyone knew he was unhappy about his wealthy neighbour\u2019s noisy dogs; after all, he\u2019d lodged an official complaint with the town council.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the police decided McAfee was a person of interest in their investigation into Faull\u2019s death. But when they went to speak with the paranoid entrepreneur, he heard their noisy golf carts coming up the beach, quickly dug a hole in the sand and put a cardboard box over his head.<\/p>\n

A police search of the property failed to uncover the fugitive, and they left empty-handed leaving McAfee free to skip the island, cross to the mainland and disappear into the jungle. He then crossed the Guatemalan border where he was arrested and held, although after faking a heart attack his deportation to Belize stalled and was ultimately denied, so he ended up back in the USA.<\/p>\n

The night after he arrived, he indulged in the services of prostitute Janice Dyson, 30 years his junior, who is now his widow after they married in 2013. She is still on Twitter as The Mrs McAfee.<\/p>\n

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Happy Father's Day @officialmcafee<\/a>. Though you are spending the day in prison know that you are loved and appreciated. #FreeJohnMcAfee<\/a> #FreeMcAfee<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/YFmB36KWfb<\/a><\/p>\n

— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) June 20, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n