On June 24, 2021, John McAfee, the giant of the US software industry, the "father of antivirus software" and the founder of McAfee, was found dead in a prison cell in Barcelona, Spain, suspected of committing suicide.
Confusingly, however, just a few months ago, McAfee posted on social networks: "If I commit suicide, please don't believe it." ”
What was the hidden story of McAfee's death? What kind of character is McAfee?
It all starts when McAfee was a kid.
McAfee was born in England in September 1945. His mother was an authentic Englishman and his father was an American soldier. During McAfee's childhood, the family moved with his father to Virginia.
However, McAfee's childhood was very unfortunate, and his father, who had experienced World War II, suffered from severe schizophrenia after returning to the United States, and then began to drink heavily, and every time he got drunk, he had to punch and kick his mother.
When McAfee was 15 years old, his father committed suicide by drinking a bullet. Such a childhood experience left a great shadow on McAfee's young mind, and also laid the groundwork for his future deviance.
McAfee has shown an extraordinary IQ from an early age, and his academic performance has always been excellent. However, in 1968, while studying for a doctorate in mathematics at the university, he suddenly received a notice of expulsion from the school, and the reason given by the school was that McAfee and one of his students had illegally lived together while at school.
This year, McAfee was 23 years old, and the legendary and deviant story began.
McAfee, who was fired from school, quickly learned the basics of early computers with his outstanding mathematical talent, and used this knowledge and a forged resume to secure a position at the Missouri Pacific Railroad. McAfee soon showed great professionalism, and he was even able to use IBM's computer system to help the company calibrate train schedules.
But the good times did not last long, because of alcoholism, McAfee was fired from the company. In order to survive and maintain the basic cost of buying alcohol, McAfee began to apply for jobs frequently, but each job search ended in failure because of alcoholism.
Even the first wife I met in college chose to leave because of his vices.
In 1987, by chance, McAfee read in the newspaper about the world's first computer virus C-BRAIN, which made him see a blue ocean. In 1987, he founded McAfee Corporation in Santa Clara, California. And in a very short period of time, led the company to dominate the PC antivirus market. At the company's heyday, half of the Fortune 100 companies used his antivirus software.
By 1994, McAfee had grown into a large company with thousands of employees. But McAfee, tired of living like this, announced his resignation from McAfee, and he sold his shares worth about $100 million. Decades later, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, he said he resigned because the operating company was no longer having fun.
After achieving personal freedom of wealth, McAfee began to buy and buy wildly, and he bought several mansions, a private plane, and a private theater. While enjoying the thrill of money, he did not forget to buy most of the rest of the money to buy bonds of banks such as JPMorgan Chase. However, a financial crisis in 1998 wiped McAfee's personal wealth overnight.
McUffi, who was accustomed to spending a lot of money, had no choice but to take the $4 million from the sale of real estate to Belize, a small Central American country with a low level of living consumption.
In fact, $4 million is not much for an ordinary person, if you live a good life, at least this life is also worry-free. In the beginning, McAfee did live here very moistly, eating and drinking spicy, but also found a 17-year-old girlfriend. Living with a girl under the age of 18 is unimaginable in the United States and is subject to public scorn, but in Belize McAfee was not affected in any way.
However, not long after the good days, McAfee got into trouble again, the police suspected that he was secretly "making ice" in his home, Belize police quickly searched McAfee's home, although there was no direct evidence of his "ice making", but a gun was found from his home, McAfee was locked up for a day and a night, and finally released.
But McAfee hadn't made enough of it.
Just a few months later, McAfee was in the police's sights again, this time more so because McAfee was suspected of shooting and killing his 52-year-old neighbor. McAfee is said to have been the trigger for a conflict with his neighbors, just a dog. Although it is inconclusive whether this statement is true or false, killing a person for a dog is indeed very much in line with McAfee's style.
After the murder, Belize police searched McAfee's home again, but this time they were unable to catch McAfee. It turned out that he had fled to Guatemala before the police operation. In the process of fleeing, he did not forget to broadcast to the public how he buried himself in the sand with a cardboard box to avoid the police pursuit.
On the other hand, he also sold his "legendary experience" that was more wonderful than Hollywood movies to a Canadian film and television company.
He even had a love affair with a call girl in the process of escaping.
Capitalized suits!
However, there is rain in the sky, and there are disasters in the madness of people. Because he was too high-profile, McAfee was quickly arrested by the Guatemalan government, and in a pinch, McAfee's miraculous acting skills once again saved his life - he was detained by the Guatemalan police, causing the case to be delayed, buying time for lawyers, and was not repatriated to Belize for trial.
Later, in a CNN report, McAfee confessed that he had a heart attack at the time. Later, after negotiations, McAfee was extradited back to the United States and escaped jail time.
In 2013, McAfee returned to the United States in an even more "unscrupulous" manner. He uploaded a video on the Internet called "How to Uninstall McAfee Antivirus" to dismantle the company that no longer belonged to him.
The old American cannon, which wanders between genius and madman, has twice announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States.
In 2015, McAfee used his network technology advantage as a selling point to announce his participation in the 2016 presidential election. To this end, he also officially launched the "McAfee 2016 American Campaign Website", which specially recorded campaign videos to show his campaign ambitions.
And that year, Trump, who was as crazy as he was, defeated Hillary Clinton and laughed to the end.
The other time was in 2019, when McAfee was once again preparing to run for the 2020 presidential election as a Liberal candidate. Six months later, he was arrested in a port in the Dominican Republic, this time on the grounds that he was secretly hiding weapons on his yacht. Naturally, the matter of running for president is not over.
In 2019, McAfee left the U.S. again, admitting he had 8 years without paying personal income taxes. He has even offered to help Cuba use bitcoin to circumvent the U.S. trade embargo.
Sure enough, he was a fierce person who didn't even let go of himself...
Heaven does evil, but it is possible to live, but it is self-inflicted, and it is not to live.
Arrested at the Airport of Barcelona in Spain in October 2020, McAfee was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice of making millions of dollars by peddling various cryptocurrencies and failing to file U.S. IIT returns from 2014 to 2018.
He has since been held in a prison in Spain. In prison, McAfee was able to continue to use Twitter to promote cryptocurrencies, but also to share his own experiences.
In September 2019, McAfee tweeted showing a new tattoo on his biceps in his right arm that read "$WHACKD" (hit hard). He explained in a related tweet: "I received a subtle message from A.S. officials that actually meant 'McPhee, we're coming to you, we're going to kill you.'" Just in case, I got a new tattoo today. If someone says I'm suicidal, it's not. I was hit hard. Can check my right arm. ”
But in June 2021, McAfee was found hanging in a prison cell. It was only a few hours after the Spanish government announced his extradition back to the United States.
"Sometimes there is only a line between genius and madness," McAfee gave the best interpretation of this famous quote.