Final Days in Spanish Prison

Audible subscribers can listen to all our episodes of sccamluencers ad free right now Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app A headads up to our listeners. This episode contains mention of suicide and descriptions of sexual assault Please listen with care Sarah, I'm assuming you had a computer in the nineties. Is that right? Well, I personally didn't because I was a child, as were you. but I did come from a family where we had computers and internet very early. Like we had all this stuff before other people did. so right. I've been online You know,, Right, You come by it honestly What do you remember about McAfee antivirus software? I remember it just being everywhere. likeike every single computer had that antivirus software But I also remember my father not really liking it and thinking it was kind of basic. but it was definitely a time when everyone was downloading things for the first time and anything could give you a virus, you know? Yeah, it felt like for a time you could not use a computer without being bombarded by McAfee notifications Well, today, we're gonna talk about the man behind the name and how he went from coding genius to lifestyle guru to repeated international fugitive It's twenty thirteen in Portland, Oregon John McFfee is sitting behind a desk on a small set in front of a green screen. He's in his late sixties, tall and lanky with the weathered skin of someone who spent a lot of time in the sun. He's wearing a smoking jacket over a formal suit, and his dark gray hair and beard are streaked with lighter patches For decades, John has been known as the guy who created one of the first antiv virus programs for personal computers, a piece of software that ended up on millions of machines and made him a fortune Today, John's filming a public service announcement about the software that still carries his name But he's not here to help people with their tech problems He's here to reintroduce himself to the world. The director yells action and John launches in My name is Seaan McAfee. I'm the founder of the McAfee Antiirus software compomany Although I've had nothing to do with this company for over fifteen years, I still get volumes of mail asking, how do I uninstall this software I have no idea John slips a cigarette between his lips and holds up a one hundred dollars bill From off camera, a young woman reaches in with a lighter. McAVee sets the bill on fire and uses it to light up. He looks straight to camera and says an assistant will help explain how to uninstall the software. As John stands up to introduce him, several women step into frame and remove his smoking jacket Underneath, he's wearing striped boxers While the assistant explains how to uninstall the software, the camera cuts back to John sitting behind his desk. Now, it's covered in guns and white bags labeled bath salts. Six women slowly take off his suit jacket, giggling and kissing him and each other Shirtless, John leans over the desk and snorts a line of white powder When he looks up, his face is covered in it You know, something went wrong Fteen years ago I had some beautiful software and they took it over. I don't know what they did. It was like the time I hired that Bangkok prostitute To do my taxes while my count, it was terrible. The same thing is going on now. But I know what to do. I know exactly what to do. Believe me, I've got instution right here. John loads a gun, stands, and shoots a laptop. Then, he puts on a Fedora while one woman shoulders a semiutomatic rifle John Winkx wraps his arm around the woman and walks off screen He can't wait to post the video on his brand new YouTube channel You know, I think in twenty twenty six, we're really used to watching these public rebranding crashouts from extremely wealthy people I do remember around the time this was happening that it was one of those things that just felt so nut so crazy that I just kept seeing headlines and clips of these videos and being like, I actually can't focus on this It's too weird and odd. Yeah. Unfortunately, this really established a bad exhausting precedent For more than two decades, John's been defined by his early success Even after he cashed out from his company and moved on to run a yoga retreat, a daredevil flight school, and a medical lab in Belize About a year ago, things took a turn when his neighbor in Belize was found dead The police tried to question John and he went on the run, setting off an international manhunt Now, he's back in the United States and leaning hard into the rumors about his life in Belize that he dates young women, many at a time that he uses basalts, that he's paranoid and gun happy Forgive me, Sarah, but to quote my Angelou, when people show you who they are, believe them Because the thing is, all those rumors are true And now, he wants people to know it John thinks subverting his public image as the antiv virus guy is hilarious and it frees him to do his very favorite thing Whatever the hell he wants He's about to embark on his third act One last hurh that will see John reinvent himself as a presidential candidate and cryptocurrency guru. It's a run that will end with criminal charges, another international manhunt, and a tragic end that will only deepen the mystery around him and his legacy With JBL live headphones, you'll lose yourself in your favorite music. In fact, you can get so immersed, we had to add a few disclaimers. While listening with JBL live headphones, do not start twerking in your office break room Do not begin line dancing at the DMV And do not practice your moon walk while crossing a busy intersection Or if that sounds like a good time, then go ahead Just don't say we didn't warn you JBL made to be heard Find your pair at jbL. com H it is This corner kit could be a big one There's the cross He arises to meet it and It's a Soccer's biggest tournament is here. and Eerprise is turning every corner kick goal into your chance to win a car. The moment a corner kick is called, post on X with hashtag on every corner hashtag sweepsticks and tag Eterprise. If it's a corner kick goal, you could win Winners may pick up their cars at an enterprise or an enterprise car sales location on a corner near them With over a thousand corner kicks expected, that's a lot of chances to win. For more details and an additional chance to win, visit onverycorner. com. No purchase necessary for legal residents of the fifty US states in DC, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain who are twenty one and older. Sweepstakes Es july nineteenth, twenty twenty six Void wherear prohibited. Prize awarded if a corner kick goal is scored. For entry details and official rules, visit onverycorner. com om Audible Originals, I'm Sachi Cole, and I'm Sarah Hagie, and this is Scamluencers John McAfee was a brilliant but volatile programmer who helped pioneer antiv virus software and made himself a fortune in the early days of personal computing. He had an addictive personality and a short attention span. So after walking away from cybersecurity with tens of millions in the bank He spent his life chasing thrills, taking risks, and seeking attention John wanted to be seen as a brilliant tech visionary who fought for the right to privacy and personal liberty But behind the scenes, a lifetime of relentless self indulgence came at the expense of those around him and left him high, drunk, and broke When the money ran out, John did what he always did. He reinvented himself And when he turned to promoting little known cryptocurrencies, he also started quietly cashing out making money off the very hype that he was creating John's prominence in tech and pop culture raises uncomfortable questions about the near invisible line between subversion and scamming Questions at today feel more relevant than ever This is John McAfee, the Antisocial virusge It's nineteen forty five and in the mining town of Cinderfort, England John McAfee is born on a US. Army base to an American serviceman and a British mother Not long after, John and his family move across the pond to Virginia John's childhood there is rough. His dad is an alcoholic who physically and emotionally abuses both John and his mom Th then, when John is just fifteen years old, his dad shoots himself with a shotgun The trauma follows John for the rest of his life. Sarah, can you read what he later told Wired magazine? He says. Every day I wake up with him Every relationship I have, he's by my side, everyvery mistrust He is the negotiator of that mistrust So my life is fucked. Yeah, I mean, that is a pretty accurate description of daddy issues that A lot of the people we cover seem to have, I'd say. Yeah, it's certainly a variation on a theme After high school, John majors in math at a small college in Virginia, where he says he paid his way through school by selling magazine subscriptions door to door By now, he's grown into a striking figure Tall, with bright blue eyes and dark hair, a deep voice with a southern twang, and an easy charm all of which helps in sales, whether it's magazines or the other commodity he deals in college Cocaine It's the beginning of his life as an entrepreneur After graduating, John moves to Louisiana to pursue a PhD And that's where he starts another lifelong pattern going after very young women He starts dating one of his students, an eighteen year old named Fran When the university learns about the relationship, they kick him out of the program So, John looks for work that will use his brilliant mathematical mind and make him money And he discovers a burgeoning field compomuter science Over the next decade, John works as a programmer for companies all over the US, including Xerox, Siemens, Booz Allen, and even NASA But he's also battling multiple addictions to drugs, alcohol, and maybe even sex. His former fiance during this time says that he was constantly cheating on her Luckily, he finds the perfect landing spot. a place where his brilliance will be rewarded and his bad behavior tolerated Silicon Valley. In the early eighties, John moves to the Bay Area to become the head of R and D for OmEX, a data storage company. He drives a motorcycle to work and arrives whenever he wants, often nursing skull crushing hangovers and disregards both budgets and deadlines. At work, he snorts Coke to wake up, pops qualludes when he needs to come down, and sips scotch in the afternoons to even everything out. But he's also constantly hammering out code Can you read what his boss at the time later told Bloomberg? Yeah, she said. It took me all of fifteen minutes in the R and D lab to realize he was brilliant I didn't care if we set up a bar in R and D and drank all day long If he could solve the kinds of technical problems he was solving, then he was my guy That is a very bad precedent and at what cost? you know? yeep. Once again, John is at the forefront of an extremely troubling trend Unchecked power for tech nerds, what could go wrong? Well, for a while, John is able to indulge his every impulse without consequence Even Silicon Valley has its limits And eventually, John will be forced to make a choice. change his life or risk following his father's tragic footsteps. By the early eighties, John's hard living lifestyle has finally worn out its welcome at OmEX. No longer employed, he sits at home, alone, high and drunk, and contemplates taking his own life He knows he can't keep going like this So maybe thinking about his father's fate, John decides to make a change He starts seeing a therapist and attends his first AA meeting. And at thirty eight years old, he gets sober Later, he'll tell Wired, quote That's when life really began for me John gets a job at Lockheed Martin He also gets married to a woman named Judy And with a clear mind, he becomes laser focused on a new frontier the early internet At Lockheed, he's exposed to something new and unsettling computer viruses In the era of dial up interternet John installs a second phone line at home so he can be online at all hours. researching viruses and chatting with fellow computer obsessives on early internet forums John can see that tech is the future, and if he plays it right, it could make him very rich Around this time, a piece of destructive code called the Pakistani brain starts making headlines The virus spreads through infected floppy discks, quietly copying itself from machine to machine. When users try to save a file, they often get a message stating, welcome to the dungeon Beware of this virus. contontact us for vaccination Some estimates say it infected more than a hundred thousand computers It's the first time most people realize their systems are not safe. Wow, this must have been such an amazing time where like this sounds like it's out of a movie almost where it's like, what my computer is sick. And also it's like, what is it gonna do? It's how we had our data on those things. People aren't doing online banking. What are you stealing? Just a virus for the sake of being a virus? Yeah, they were just stealing the answers to Mindesweeper John sees his opportunity. He gets a copy of the Pakasani Brain code and solves it like a puzzle Here he is explaining what he did next to ABC's twenty twenty I was figuring out, oh yeah, I can stop this here, I can stop this here, I can stop this here, I can do this. I can actually remove the thing. wrot a program in a day and a hf So the McAfee antivirus was created in a day and a half. Yes And how well did it work? Four million people were using it within a month There was a time that every single computer had McAfee antivirus on it. Like it was just like, there's no question. Yes, exactly. And that's because John's antivirus program spreads super fast because he gives it away for free He believes in the early internet ethos of programming for the joy of it, just to see what computers can do. But it doesn't take him long to realize he's got something valuable and he'd be a fool not to capitalize on it. So, in nineteen eighty seven, John leaves Lockheed Martin to found his own company McAfee and Associates He hires a few people who work out of his house and comes up with a model that's ahead of its time McAfee Antivirus is free for individuals But if businesses are looking to protect their computer systems They have to pay to license the software Before long, McAfee Ativirus is everywhere And within a year, the company grosses ten million dollars John is living the dream The company bearing his name is the hottest thing in teact. and McAfee and Associate starts to reflect its founders values Employees work hard and play even harder. On any given day, workers show up dressed in medieval clothes, practice sword fighting in the halls, and conduct wicked rituals at lunchtime There's even a running pool that awards points for having sex in strange places around the office Though John has forsaken most of his old vices, he still hasn't given up sex He's not faithful to his current wife. He reportedly puts together regular sex parties, and a McAfee associates's employee later told Bloomberg that a big part of her job was covering up for John when his wife would call It is really disgusting to imagine that being considered normal at work I mean I hope someone sued him One can only dream A few years later, in nineteen ninety two A new computer virus captures the world's attention the Michelangelo virus It's designed to lay dormant until Michelangelo's birthday, when it will erase infected computers' hard drives Sensing another opportunity, John goes on national TV and claims that as many as five million computers could be threatened Sales of McAfee antivirus software soar But when the day comes Almost nothing happens. The New York Times headline reads, virus barely causes sniffle in computers In Silicon Valley, John's reputation takes a major hit. It looks like an opportunist who sowed panic just to sell more software his big swing and massive payoff grabbed the attention of investors who were dying to get in on the action. John's brilliant coating and taste for the limelight have put his company on the map. But he's about to open up McAfee and associates and its unique corporate culture to scrutiny. And Wall Street suits telling him what to do does not line up with John's idea of success A few months later, John announces that McAfee and Associates is going public. Before the IPO, a new CEO is brought in. And his first priority is professionalizing the work environment John is sidelined to Chief Technical Officer, and the writing is on the wall. The company will keep his name, but John isn't destined to be a big part of its future. John isn't totally bummed about this. He's forty seven years old, a millionaire, and he's made his mark on the world It's hard to overstate how ubiquitous McAfee antivirus software was in the nineties John retains his seat on the board for a couple of years, but in nineteen ninety five, he resigns and cashes out completely Bloomberg estimates that he walks away with about eighty four million dollars Now in his fifties and incredibly wealthy, John begins looking inward In his sober years, meditation and yoga have been a huge help to him So, he buys a two hundred and eighty acre compound in Colorado and builds a yoga retreat. He wants to recreate the sense of community he found in early chat rooms and at the McAfee offices So he allows people to study yoga at the house for free It seems like he's simply sharing his wealth and paying it forward There's also a darker edge to it Can you read how one former student later described the retreat to Gizmoto Yes, they said Everything was free. You would think that this guy was amazingly generous and kind, but he was getting something out of it. He was interested in being the center of attention He was surrounded by people who didn't have any money and were depending on him, and he could control them Yeah I'm familiar with bosses. Like, you know, it's the same concept as like working in an office that provides all this food. It's like you're getting a lot more out of this than I am. Yeah, well, new to him, maybe. Well, I mean, it didn't exist back then. This is new. rightight. This is new, brand new. But now this is normal, but that was brand new. Yeah Yeah Well, John may be sober, but he still has an addictive, thrill seeking personality. He's really into extreme sports, like ATV racing and open ocean jet skiing And eventually yoga isn't enough Plus, running a yoga retreat full time sort of lacks some drama. So John makes his own By this point, John's marriage has fallen apart He starts dating a teenager named Jennifer, who works at the retreat Then, in august two thousand two, he reads about a new kind of aircraft called Trikes They're super lightweight, basically like motorcycles with wings A reporter for National Geographic Adventure will later call them personersal Icarus machines Sarah, just take a look at one of these things Okay, you know what? This is cool. I can't deny that it's cool. It's like what you see in a cartoon. you're like paragliding and you're in a motorcycle looking vehicle. Also like if I was in the right mood, would I do this? Probably. Right. Well, much like you, John is instantly obsessed So he and Jennifer move to Arizona to go to flight school, where he starts flying these ultra lightweight aircraft extremely close to the ground. sixty five miles an hour, just a few feet off the desert floor John didn't invent this hobby, but he does give it a name Aerrow treacking And he's ready to make it his whole life This new hobby gives John all of the adrenaline he can handle and an isolated environment that he can control He buys one hundred fifty seven acre property in New Mexico and spends eleven million dollars creating a mecca for other thrill seeking flyers He also builds a series of airports in the southwest The home base has a five bedroom villa, a general store, a cafe, a movie theater, and a swimming pool In the evenings, John and some of his two hundred odd acolytes gather on his villa's patio to watch one of his six thousand DVDs Can you read how he describes the setup to National Geographic Adventure? Yes, he says I'm not trying to turn a profit I want to provide an environment where anyone who has the spirit of adventure can come out and participate I feel like John is someone who is just extreme in whatever he's doing, no regard for right or wrong or safety. And that kind of thing is very thrilling if you're around it. like if you're around someone who's just willing to do anything and can do anything they want But ultimately it's like, it's crazy and it's dangerous And you take a step back and you're like, what is going on here? Yeah. In two thousand six, tragedy indeed strikes One day when John's twenty two year old nephew, Joel Bitu, one of the school's flight instructors is flying with a sixty one year old student They fly into a canyon and crash. Both die in the accident It's devastating, but it doesn't stop John from flying But his turn a swashbuckling adventurer has now cost two people their lives And when it comes to facing the consequences John's belief in self reliance will soon be revealed to be pure self interest Seven months after the fatal crash, journalist Jeff Wise lounges on the patio of John's New Mexico ranch Jeff is in his early forties, handsome with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He's a journalist and trained pilot and he's here to interview John John is now sixty one and still completely devoted to aero trekking Despite his age, John has the energy of a coked up teen beach bum. And he looks like one too He's got spiky hair with bleached tips, pierced ears, tribal tattoos across his shoulders, and of course, a goatee John doesn't apologize for pursuing his whims at all costs even when there are awful consequences He still promotes his passions even after his nephew's death. Jeff asks John about his tendency to go all in on the things he loves, pulling other wayward souls into his orbit And then moving on when he's bored John tells him, quote I anticipate that happening It doesn't worry me at all. I feel like because John lives such a fast paced life, everything's go go go, move on to the next thing. Everything's so fast, I don't think he has object permanence for anything he does. As long as he can bankroll what he's doing and keep going, there's no moment of self reflection almost It just doesn't really matter and he can say something like he anticipates something like that happening and it doesn't worry him It's like you have to just be so far removed from how reality works to say that, yeah, he lives pretty consequence free. And Jeff is charmed by John He sees him as gregarious, eccentric, and exciting And he writes a fairly glowing profile Then, a few years later, Jeff reads in the New York Times that John is auctioning off the New Mexico ranch John claims his forune has dwindled from one hundred million dollars to just four million doars and says he's moving to Belize partly because of its favorable tax laws. Like so many, Jeff has been taken in by John McAfee He doesn't know that he's just begun a decades long relationship with a man who will make him question everything Soon, Jeff will commit himself to uncovering the truth about the viral scion, even as John soars to greater highs and potentially murderous lows Free audio post production. fonic. com Confidence. It's listening to your gut. It's moving forward, even when the path ahead is unclear. 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It's two thousand eight, and Alison Anizio is celebrating her thirtieth birthday in tears From the outside, Allison seems to have it all She has a PhD in biology and recently received a three year grant to continue her studies at Harvard something doesn't feel right But the thought of three more years in a lab has her wondering, is this it Allison feels the itch to get out and explore So, inspired by a botanist she admires, she heads to Belize, striking a deal with a resort for room and board in exchange for playing guitar for guests then, one evening after she finishes a performance Allison meets John McAfeee. We don't know exactly how they struck up a conversation. But John immediately digs into Allison's field of study, which focuses on plant compounds that could prevent bacteria from causing infections by disrupting the way the microbes communicate. Her work could lead to a new class of antibiotics, which must make her seem like a kindred spirit to someone who built his fortune fighting computer viruses. So John makes Allison an offer on the spot They'll set up a lab for her here in Belize to continue her research. They'll start a new company to explore commercial uses for her natural antivirus substances Together, he tells Allison, they'll save millions of lives, reinvent the pharmaceutical industry, and change the world. Allison doesn't know about John's history of going all in on things, only to drop them as soon as he gets bored She just hears a wealthy expat offering her her dream job So she accepts John builds Allison a lab on a new compound he's purchased inland While Allison focuses on her research, John calls journalists to spread the word about their venture. He claims Allison has identified six promising herbs Which isn't true He tells Allison that this is how it works with the press This trruth is simply what you can convince a journalist to publish Allison is a researcher, not a venture capitalist She puts her head down and does her work but she soon notices that things around the lab start to change. John's intensely interested in the locals spending a lot of time at a karaoke dive bar slash brothel in a nearby town And John begins to get pulled deeper and deeper into the local drama At one point, hiring guards to patrol the property with guns and packing the compound with more than a dozen menacing dogs. And John's unpredictable swings start to impact Allison's job when he suggests that she pause her research and instead look into an herbal remedy for the female libido. Allison might have thought he was joking if not for his habit of showing her kink websites and leaving bags of Viagarra around his house. I feel like one consistent pattern in John's life is pushing the limit with various women where again, like he just does whatever he wants. And this is clearly some form of harassment. Yeah. And he's just like truly such a sicko Yeah, it's gross And then, he tells Allison that a journalist will be visiting Jeff Wise from John's aerowrecking days When Jeff arrives, Allison goes along with John's lie that she's discovered many new compounds In april twenty ten, when Jeff finally publishes the article about his trip It's disastrous questions the viability of their research and proposes an alternate theory for why John relocated to Belize to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of the man who'd been killed in that aerotrekking accident If the court finds John liable, it would be hard to force him to pay the judgment from overseas Yeah, I mean, it's a classic rich person moved to go to some type of tropical, beautiful country and pretend you're there for like its benefits and the life is so much better there But really you're running from the law. Yeah. They do this all the time Allison is probably devastated when she reads Jeff's article It casts her research as a cover for John's attempt to avoid consequences Things between her and John start to get more tense, and eventually, Allison tells John that she wants to return to the states Here she is explaining what happened next in the documentary Gringo, The dangerous life of John McAfee. Tld him I had a headache and he I went into the other room and he brought me twow pills and a glass of orange juice So I took them I you know, and I took a sip of the orange juice and it tasted Pl, it tasted bitter I only have sort of flashes of recollection He was standing over me Naked And I woke up the next morning And I was sick. I was dry heaving and I was dizzy and I Grab my clothes, I don't even remember taking them off and some I went back to my house and I locked myself in my apartment and I u I sat in the shower, I sat in the shower for I don't know until the water ran cold and I was crying and I was bleing John would later deny Allison's allegations According to Allison, when she confronted him the next day, he acted like nothing had happened. But when she tells him that she wants to quit, he explodes, screaming and lunging towards her Allison runs to her lab and hides as John pounds on the lock door. She manages to email her dad and buy a plane ticket just before John shuts off the power. Alice and text some friends to come get her. and they escort her to the airport Back in the U.S, Allison reaches out to the FBI They tell her they have no jurisdiction in Belize So she decides to use something John taught her power of the press She reaches out to Jeff and tells him the real story how thankful she is to have gotten out al lie Allison might be done with Belize, but John is not. And he's about to learn that their government isn't willing to sit back and let him do whatever the hell he wants In twenty twelve, two years after his last visit wise heads back to Belize to interview John McAfee again During his previous trip, John came across as charming and smart and believable. Jeff even bought into the idea that John was trying to revolutionize medicine Here's Jeff describing that reporting trip later on the podcast on the media I went down there and I met this biologist and he showed me the plots of land where he wass going to grow these miracle herbs And I wrote a piece that was really frankly, credulous I basically took what MacFfee told me, I took what I'd seen and I'd put it together in three thousand words. And my editor, he said this doesn't smell right. This needs more time. So let's hold it and do some more reporting. I think this is probably the best instinct. I think John is someone who is so confident he believes that he can control any narrative I feel like journalists are always best when they take their time and don't rush to a conclusion. Yeah, exactly Jeff's editor was right Because once Jheeff started digging, the story began to fall apart He discovered the wrongful Duck civil case tied to John's arerrow treking days And then, Allison reached out with her own disturbing allegations Now, two years later Jeff hears that John has fallen out with his friends and business partners in South America Something must be happening, so he's back in Belize to catch up with the man he's been writing about for nearly a decade. Right away, Jeff is struck by how much things have changed John is living in his beachfont home, surrounded by much younger girlfriends The place is crawling with armed guards and his dogs roam his property, snapping at people on the public beach nearby John still looks far younger than is sixty seven years of age, but his sense of adventure has given way to roiling paranoia John tells Jeff there have been eleven attempts to kidnap or kill him in the last year alone his group of happy thrill seekers has faded away. Now, John doesn't seem to have any friends He tells Jeff, quote, What does friendship actually mean It's a commitment to an idea that just doesn't interest me John Sobriety seems to have laughs too Around this time, Jeff discovers messages John posted to a Russian chat room about MDPV which is a psyoactive stimulant found in bath salts It's kind of like fucked up mess MDPV was banned in the US, but it's legal in Belize at the time of John's postings. Can you read some of what John wrote about his experiences? Sure, he wrote When I first started doing this, I accidentally got a few drops on my fingers while handling a used flask and didn't sleep for four days. I had visual and auditory hallucinations and the worst paranoia of my life And in another post I'm a huge fan I think it's the finest drug ever conceived, not just for the indescribable hypersexuality but also for the smooth euphoria and mild comeown. You know, I think he operates at such a crazy frequency that he could do bath salts and be like, honestly, pretty smooth Well, John later claims the posts were a joke And he adds that he, quote would never do drugs. According to some experts, paranoia is a common side effect of MDPV, so it could definitely explain John's change in personality. Two weeks after Jeff returns home, a special Belizeian police squad executes a raid on John's property Between John's strange behavior and his mysterious laboratory, the government suspects he's running a major drug operation Police find an arsenal of guns and ammunition and bottles of chemicals they can't identify no illegal drug operation Jeff knows the raid is likely to throw gasoline on the fire of John's paranoia And then, a few months later, Jeff gets an alarming email from a high ranking police official in Belize Sarah, can you read what it says? Yeah The police official wrote, It may interest you to know that there was a murder yesterday and McAfee is the prime suspect The victim, Gregory Fall, was his neighbor. McAfee has made himself unavailable and police are actively searching for him That is so sad. And I know at this point he is just a suspect, but Obviously he's someone who is capable of this. Like it's not a shocking next step in his life. Yeah. We know he's a scary, violent guy. Every hour that passes, Jeff learns more The victim was a fifty two year old expat, and before he was murdered, Greg had been complaining to the authorities about John's dogs The day before Greg's murder, John found his dogs dead They've been poisoned The next morning, Greg's housekeeper discovered Greg's body He'd been shot in the back of the head at point blank range Belesian authorities are anxious to talk to John John is nowhere to be found. He later tells a wired reporter that he hid from the authorities by burying himself up to his neck in the sand and hiding his head under a cardboard box for hours Then he decided to go on the run Nothing you're saying right now is computing properly. What is going on here? His dog's dead, a body being discovered and also literally burying himself in sand with a box over his head for hours It's so cartoonishly stupid. Yeah, it's bonkers And Jeff knows that John is increasingly erratic Constantly lying and armed to the gills Could he have resorted to murder He doesn't know what to make of this tragic turn of events But soon, John will step in to steer the narrative Two weeks after Greg Fall's murder, Robert King lands and believes Rob is in his early forties with dark hair, a round face, and a southern accent He's a veteran war photographer who has spent decades bouncing between war zones, winning awards for documenting atrocities. Just a few days after he got back from Syria, he received a call from Rocco Castoro, editor in chief of Vice magazine John has decided to fight this the only way he knows how by using the media to control the narrative He's been calling reporters, telling them that he had nothing to do with Gregory's death And now he's invited Vice to document his escape When Rockco asked Robert if he wanted to fly to Belize to embed with a tech multimillionaire on the run It was an easy yes So now Robert is standing outside the airport with Rockco waiting for John McAfee to pick them up Yeah, that is something that definitely was happening in twenty twelve The rule was if you were a crazy guy You had to invite another crazy guy from Vice to document you being crazy. Yeah, I mean, I don't make the rules. It was a rule. That's just how it worked, then Well, when the van pulls up, John is sitting in the back seat with one of his girlfriends, twenty year old Sam. He's dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache jet black They drive to the coast, jump in a speedboat, and gun it for Guatemala the entire time, Robert is filming John categorically denies having anything to do with Greg's death But he says the Belizeian government has it out for him, so he's planning to cross into Guatemala to hunk her down in secret and plan his next move. But Guatemalan authorities clock that they don't have the exit stamps on their passports from Belize. The customs officer refuses John's not so subtle attempts at a bribe They want to ship John and everyone else back to Belize It's clear that John needs a lawyer Luckily, John's girlfriend, Sam, just happens to be related to Guatemala's former attorney general. And he's willing to help While they wait to meet him, Robert and Rockco decide it's time to let the world know about their massive scoop So Rockco writes up a press release and Robert grabs a photo of him with John They send it to the vice team back in New York, who posts it under the headline, We are with John McAfee right now, suckers But right away, their phones start ringing becausecause the geniuses in the New York office posted the photo Robert took instead of a screenshot So the image contains geot targeted data In bragging about their exclusive, Robert and Rocco have just revealed to the world exactly where John is. Oh, brother, this is really stressful and also just like so of the era. It's so Vice. Listen, I did my time at Vice. I work there and I will say this tracks. yeah. exactly. Well, a few days later, Robert is filming John outside the hotel entrance when Guatemalan authorities swarm them They arrest John for entering the country illegally and release a statement saying they intend to deport him back to Belize Robert and Rockco hide in their hotel rooms, where they learn that John had a heart attack in custody and has been taken to a local hospital When they visit him, John says he faked the heart attack to avoid getting deported Robert and Rockco doubt that Pi will actually work, so they book flights home and head to the airport Robert grips his passport tightly as they go through La Aurora International Airport. because they still don't have exit stamps from Belize. He nervously hands his documents to the customs official He flips to the last page, slaps the stamp down, and ushers Robert along beyond relieved Robert and Rocco sit at an airport bar and order beers When Robert gets home, he learns that John's fake heart attack ploy worked. He is getting deported to the United States And now that John is back in the US, he's ready to reinvent himself and start yet another new chapter It's the fall of twenty fifteen, nearly three years since John fled Belize and ended up back in the US Jehn, now seventy years old, walks into Larry Flyint's Hustler cllub It's a monument to decadence, nude women dancing, private rooms, and bars doing brisk business But the tech bros and crypto enthusiasts aren't here just for the usual entertainment. They're also here to raise money for a presidential candidate committed to issues they care about John McAfee The Night is a success with tech bros contributing via PayPal and paying in Bitcoin, which is against election laws These guys are libertarians. They don't care John raises around two million dollars that night, and as he looks around at the crowd gathered at this palace of excess, he must think to himself, I am so back When John was extradited to the U.S, he was reeling. He had to leave most of his assets and all his girlfriends behind As he tries to rebuild, he leans into his name, doing interviews, speaking gigs, and even filming that bizarre video from the beginning of the episode to uninstall McAfee antivirus software Eventually, he meets Kyle Sandler founder of a tech incubator in Opaika, Alabama Sarah, do you remember our episode about Kyle Yes, I do remember Kyle. he was the employee of T Mobile who like started doing tech review videos and then lied saying he was one of Google's first employees and just kept scamming through pretending to be like a huge tech guy. Yeah, that exactly matches John's style of loser energy John and Kyle team up and John starts working with Kyle startup He's looking for something bigger and more relevant. So one day, when Kyle jokes that John could run for president John doesn't laugh it off Sarah, you have to remember, this was twenty fifteen. You could not throw a rock without hitting an out of left field presidential candidate Remember Gary Johnson and Jill Stein Not to mention Donald Trump wriding down a golden escalator into all of our lives, seemingly forever There was a, let's call it, electoral permissiveness in the air So John thought, why the hell not So in september twenty fifteen, John announces that he's running as a libertarian and rents out the Hustler Club so his accoltes can meet their mysterious, infamous hero To me, I feel like John does these things to distract and get attention and to get more followers and to make it seem like he's someone who's so special and can guide people, it's truly just for his ego and these people are donating money to him. It just doesn't make any sense. He's playing pretend. Yeah, I mean, it's a stunt. And not only do libertarians seem unbothered by John's checkered past, they're actually drawn to his devil M care attitude John is polished, engaging, and charismatic in the libertarian primary debates He's getting support from actual voters, even though for John and Kyle This is explicitly a money grab And grab they do. Kyle later tells Bloomberg that the campaign was raising money illegally right from the jump John also capitalizes on this moment by inking business deals. A struggling company called MGT Investors brings John on as CEO, and their stock quickly skyrockets from a quarter to more than five dollars a share But the surge catches the attention of the SEC, which sends NGT a subpoena For John, the presidential run has delivered beyond his wildest dreams back in the spotlight where he feels he belongs However, in John McAfee's world, peace rarely lasts long Every reinvention comes with a cost And this one is no different I'm Leon Nefk, best known as the co creator of Slowburn and Fiasco. I had of course, heard of only fans, but always with a distant and quiet skepticism A silent judgment, you might say Who is actually using this platform? U I am Hi, I'm Only Fans creator and comedian Gracie Canan. I work from home now. I'm on Oly fans. And in case you guys don't know what Oly Fans is, ask your husband. My journalistic curiosity got the best of me when I found out that my own sister had started an OlyFans account I'm not a sister, just to clarify. It turns out a lot of what I thought I knew about On fans was wrong I felt like I wasted three point five years for something that wasn't real. What happens when connection comes with a price tag? Listen to Only Fantasy wherever you get your podcasts, or binge all episodes of Only Fantasy ad free right now, only on Audible.? Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple podcasts There are people you're told to trust, lawyers, teachers, especially doctors. But what happens when you put your life in someone's hands and they betray you? The hit podcast Doctor Death is back. and this season is unlike any other. Doctor Death, the cowboy, is the story of a charming neurosurgeon who rode into Western towns selling a persona of confidence and care He wore cowboy boots in the operating room and became sought after by patients. He promised to heal them. Instead, he left a trail of broken bodies This season is about a doctor who was never truly held accountable for the patients whose lives he ruined A story of greed, betrayal, and a fight for justice that will leave you questioning who to trust Listen to Dor. Death, the cowboy, wherever you get your podcast, or binge the entire series right now, only with Audible I feel like I let F fourour years after John mounts a surprisingly successful run for president, Robert King steps onto a yacht in Miami. He's careful to maintain his balance because he's carrying precious cargo, his video camera He's here to pick up the documentary he never finished. Tacking John McAfee on the run After returning from Belize in twenty twelve, Robert resigned from Vice and retreated to a quieter life on his farm in Tennessee He never lost track of John, whose face is now everywhere because John is in deep shed Even before John left MGT Capital in twenty eighteen, he was already plotting his next move In late twenty seventeen, he started going on Twitter and loudly endorsing certain cryptocurrencies Behind the scenes though, there's a catch. John is often being paid to promote these tokens without disclosing it, and because his name still carries weight One tweet from John is enough to send the value of a crypto surgeing. at least long enough for insiders, including John to sell at a profit In the fall of twenty eighteen, shit started to hit the fan for John, all at once MGT Capital was charged with running a pump and dump scheme Though John wasn't personally charged, his fingerprints were all over the company that was And then, a Florida court found John liable for the wrongful death of his former neighbor in Belize. The man who was found shot in the back of the head in twenty twelve On top of all that The IRS is closing in on John for tax fraud So John is feeling the heat Thankfully, he has a plan Go on the run again. Here's what John posted on his YouTube page in january twenty nineteen I have not paid taxes in ten years. I will have. for Pay taxes again. neeither should you Neither should anybody in America, if I have to run forever. They will not ever get a penny from me First of all, I just want to say I hate his voice in the way he speaks. It is terrible. like Batman. It's like bad Batman. It's insane. It's so annoying. On the one hand, you should pay your taxes, but on the other hand, I mean he's just saying whatever Which person isn't saying out loud Yeah. Or some of them are saying it in fact Yes. exactly. Werre saying it, you know, different he's not couching it in any u no, you know, anything else there. Yeah. Yeah Robert has a bit of a soft spot for John They're both country boys who were raised by alcoholics and found success in unconventional lives And Robert loves a good story, which John always provides The man Robert encounters is very different from the John he first met in Belize John is now in his mid seventies with a belly, roomy eyes, and a hacking cough. He's still sharp, but he seems worn down, and he's often drunk and high Robert joins John and John's latest wife, Janice, on John's yacht, along with six of John's security guards, a handful of dogs, and a bunch of automatic weapons They set sail and the days stretch into weeks and then months on the open sea Though the boat may be fabulous, it's crowded. The dogs roam the boat freely, shitting everywhere. The water runs out, the alcohol does not. And John spends hours online and he's still taking drugs and falling into bouts of paranoia Gradually, paranoia grips everyone on board. John starts talking about people hiding in the bowels of the boat. and shooting guns on board without warning. Even though Robert spent most of his life in war zones, he's scared He later says that the security guards would fall asleep with their guns pointed where trouble was. John's room I know Robert is like a real journalist who's very dedicated to his work This is so hell like that I would just give up. I'd be like, you know what Someone else can do it. Being on a boat with these people, getting probably seasick, dogshit everywhere, no water John there I couldouldn't imagine a worse situation Literally not enough money in the world. Well, one day, John threatens to shoot Robert and Robert takes it seriously He packs his bags and heads straight for the airport Robert is done with the story and thankful to be leaving it alive John's becoming too intense, even for the people looking to profit off of his eccentricities this third act is best defined by that old adage, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you It's october twenty nineteen, a few months after Robert excused himself from the USS McAfee John walks on stage to a round of applause. He's wearing a suit and he's clean shaven and alert. He's speaking at a conference in Barcelona, celebrating blockchain the technology behind cryptocurrency It wasn't a smooth path to get here from his time at sea. After trying to dock in the Dominican Republic, John was arrested on suspicion of illegally importing weapons He used his British passport to get himself and Janice extradited to the UK. Now, he settled in the Catalonia region of Spain in an abandoned hotel that's been turned into a crypto mine And somehow he's still a star. The crypto world can't get enough of him. As time passes, the instability creeps back in John mostly spends his days online tweeting about crypto, raging against COVID restrictions, and posting pictures of himself. including one of him peeing in the parking lot of a McDonald's. John still insists the drug cartels are after him At one point, he gets a tattoo in his bicep, and Sarah, I'm gonna do my best to describe it that reads dollar sign W H A C KD. So whacked, I think That dollar sign in the tattoo is there because Wack is also A crypto coin. He shares a picture of the tattoo in a post on Twitter Maybe you can read the post. Oh Lord, he writes getting subtle messages from U. S. officials saying, in effect, we're coming for you, McAfee I got a tattoo today just in case If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whacked So his insurance to prove that he didn't kill himself if he gets murdered is to have a tattoo on his bicep that says whacked. Yeah. It's legally binding It's basically a contract. I don't even have words at this point. There's only so many ways you can call someone crazy, but this is just wild. Yeah, it is Well, in june twenty twenty, John is finally indicted for tax evasion And then, in October, the SEC files a lawsuit against him for promoting crypto without disclosing that he was being paid to do so That same month, John tweets, knownow that if I hang myself, Alla Epstein, it will be no fault of mine Later that day, John is arrested at the Barcelona airport the tax charges against him in the US have triggered an international warrant John's held in a Spanish prison without bail And at a hearing before a Spanish court in june twenty twenty one explains that he believes the IRS is corrupt. pleads through a translator, saying that if he's sent back, he'll definitely die in prison court rejects his argument. Hours later, John is found hanging in his prison cell. Spanish authorities rule his death a suicide Janice later tweets the note that Spanish authorities claim to have found in a cell a phhantom parasite I want to control my future, which does not exist. As with everything with John McAfee, the story is somehow more complex and confusing than it appears on the surface. After dying by suicide in prison, something he explicitly told his followers not to believe John's body was held by Spanish authorities for more than a year Some members of John's family say they've been swarmed with alerts that he's been spotted in Texas Sam, his girlfriend from Belize, claims that she got a call from John asking her to run away with him John lived an outlandish life with a tenuous connection to the truth It's hard to know what was real and what was a drug induced hallucination, and whether he was really at risk from underworld threats or if he finally came to terms with actual consequences. But in the end, the one threat he can never outrun, was himself Well, that was upsetting. It's just one of those tip to tail disgusting stories of a disgusting person who like, I have zero empathy for I just don't feel anything but contempt, really. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's the right way to look at it I guess my big question is How much of this story do you believe? Do you think he killed himself? Do you think he's dead? I feel like we live in an age where there are so many conspiracy theories that kind of turn out to be true in some cases, especially with the rich and famous and connected And I'm curious what you think about all of his talk of I would never kill myself only for that to be the literal way he goes. Well, here's the thing, like he lived such an insanely dangerous life You know, he had no limits. I feel like he's also someone whose mind changes at the drop of a hat. I don't know why the one thing anyone would believe of him would be like, hey By the way, I'm never going to kill myself. Like, o, I'm supposed to believe that because you said it once and you got a tattoo, like nothing matters to you. He lived such a dishonest life that the truth will never be transparent or easy to know Yeah, I feel like some of these guys say that as a kind of self fulfilling prophecy because they want the chaos to continue after they're gone and because they know that they are actually going to be the custodians of their own deaths, because they can't let go of any control. I think the plan was always for him to kill himself frankly when the law got too close He's just really lucky it took until his mid seventies. Like what a long life for such an awful person I know, you know, it's funny because you think about someone like him who forget like being morally awful, like just treated his own body like shit, put himself in dangerous situations probably shouldn't have lived as long as he did medically and still somehow lived into being a senior citizen. I know. I guess it's a testament for doing bath salts, frankly, because every time I hear about someone doing Hella drugs They live a really long, fulfilled life Why am I so worried about my blood pressure? I know. Maybe people like him exist in this way to show us like, hey, anything can happen to your body. And maybe you don't have total control over when you'll die if you're healthy, you know People like him throw me for a loop because I think everyone should have hated you and like he did everything wrong in life and managed to succeed in his own way. I also feel like John is like forest gump, but for evil institutions. He was just at the forefront of all of these different kinds of tech culture, like antiv virus protection, these bro Silicon Valley rooms