How John McAfee went from pioneering cyber security to running from the law ...

How John McAfee went from pioneering cyber security to running from the law ...
How John McAfee went from pioneering cyber security to running from the law ...

John McAfee was found in his cell at the Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona

John McAfee was found in his cell at the Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona

John McAfee, the eccentric 75-year-old antivirus software pioneer who killed himself in a Barcelona jail cell on Wednesday within hours of learning he'd be extradited to the US, lived a colorful life of womanizing, government conspiracies and running from the law. 

McAfee was facing multiple counts of tax evasion from 2016 to 2018 and on Wednesday night, learned that Spain had agreed to extradite him. He was found in his cell at the Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona.

McAfee started McAfee Associates in 1989. He sold it to Intel in 2010 for $7.7billion. 

Born in the UK on a US army base, McAfee hated the US government and said in the past that he felt as British as he did American, despite growing up in America. 

When he was 15, his alcohol father shot himself. McAfee said in a 2012 interview with Wired that it he woke up 'every day' with his father. 

"Every day I wake up with him. Every relationship I have, he's by my side; every mistrust, he is the negotiator of that mistrust. So my life is f****d.' 

He studied at Roanoke College in Virginia, where he took up drinking, then briefly attended Northeast Louisiana State College before being kicked out in 1968 for sleeping with one of his undergraduate students when he was a PhD. 

His first job in computers was at the Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis. They were trying to use an IBM computer to schedule trains in 1969. McAfee made a system that produced optimized train routes. 

As his career in computers blossomed, his drug and alcohol addiction exploded. It was usual for McAfee to do acid before a shift at work and to snort lines of cocaine off his desk while drinking a bottle of whiskey in a day.

McAfee's first job in computers was at the Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis. They were trying to use an IBM computer to schedule trains in 1969. McAfee made a system that produced optimized train routes. At the time, he was in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction. In the years that followed, his first wife left him and he hit rock-bottom. He founded McAfee Associates in 1989 after reading about a computer virus from Pakistan that was invading American computers. He's shown that year. By 1990, he was making $5million-a-year from people using his anti-virus software

McAfee's first job in computers was at the Missouri Pacific Railroad in St. Louis. They were trying to use an IBM computer to schedule trains in 1969. McAfee made a system that produced optimized train routes. At the time, he was in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction. In the years that followed, his first wife left him and he hit rock-bottom. He founded McAfee Associates in 1989 after reading about a computer virus from Pakistan that was invading American computers. He's shown that year. By 1990, he was making $5million-a-year from people using his anti-virus software

His first wife - the student he married while he was a PhD student - left him in the 1980s because his addictions were spiraling out of control. 

In 1983, alone in his home with no possessions because he'd sold them to buy drugs, he said he contemplated suicide. Instead, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous and was sober from then until his death. 

In 1986, he started McAfee Associates out of the home he lived in in Santa Clara, California, after reading about how a computer virus from Pakistan was infecting American computers.

He launched an anti-virus software and advertised it on messaging boards, making it available to people for free. 

Within five years of launching, major companies across America were using it. Then, they started paying a licensing fee for it in 1990. McAfee started earning $5million a year. 

He publicized his business by making Americans fear cyber security attacks or viruses from overseas, drawing on his own paranoia to make them paranoid too and invest in software. 

It was a controversial way of doing business, but one he defended. 

In 1990 for example, he claimed there was a Michaelangelo virus that would damage 5million Americans. Less than 100,000 were impacted but McAfee's sales soared.  

The strategy proved lucrative for him- in 1992, McAfee Associates went public on NASDAQ at $80million. 

By 2008, McAfee had divorced his second wife and moved to Belize where he settled into his compound. By 2013, he had a harem of seven women living with him on the property. He posted photos of them on his blog that year, calling them 'The Girls'

By 2008, McAfee had divorced his second wife and moved to Belize where he settled into his compound. By 2013, he had a harem of seven women living with him on the property. He posted photos of them on his blog that year, calling them 'The Girls' 

The women included 16-year-old Amy Emshwiller. McAfee dumped his girlfriend of 12 years within a month of meeting Amy, claiming he was in love. She said she wanted to rob him. She also tried to kill him on one occasion

The women included 16-year-old Amy Emshwiller. McAfee dumped his girlfriend of 12 years within a month of meeting Amy, claiming he was in love. She said she wanted to rob him. She also tried to kill him on one occasion 

McAfee enjoyed life in Belize. He would say that he had cut ties with 'polite society' and was more comfortable in the company of the 'prostitutes, thieves and handicapped people' he met there

McAfee enjoyed life in Belize. He would say that he had cut ties with 'polite society' and was more comfortable in the company of the 'prostitutes, thieves and handicapped people' he met there 

McAfee married his second wife, Judy, and the pair set up in Silicon Valley. He opened a Colorado yoga studio in 2000 and for many years, lived a life that was relatively free of scandal.

But later in his life, the paranoia started to apply to Americans, specifically the government, who McAfee was convinced were out to get him and he became jaded with his life. 

By 2009, after suffering financially in the Great Recession and growing tired of his wealth, he had sold most of his possessions and was divorced for the second time. 

One thing he wanted to hold on to was an expansive property in Belize that he purchased in 2008. He moved there in April that year. 

Over the next several years, McAfee cut ties with what he called 'polite society' to live in Belize and mingle with the locals. He frequented a bar called Lover's, which was also a brothel, where he said he belonged. 

Though he had a girlfriend - Jennifer Irwin - the owner of Lover's procured a 16-year-old girl for him in around 2010. 

McAfee's legal troubles hit in 2012 when he was named as a person of interest in the murder of his neighbor Gregory Faull. Faull was shot in the head in his home, which was next door to McAfee's in Belize

After being transferred from Guatemala to Miami, he was released on bail. He is shown on Ocean Drive in Miami after wards

After being transferred from Guatemala to Miami, he was released on bail. He is shown on Ocean Drive in Miami after wards 

McAfee went on the run from Belize, convinced he'd be set up there for Faull's death. He fled to Guatemala but was arrested there in 2012 and extradited to Miami. He is shown being transferred in an ambulance to the Police Hospital in Guatemala

McAfee went on the run from Belize, convinced he'd be set up there for Faull's death. He fled to Guatemala but was arrested there in 2012 and extradited to Miami. He is shown being transferred in an ambulance to the Police Hospital in Guatemala 

Within a month of meeting her, the pair were sleeping together and McAfee was building her a bungalow on his property. 

The girl, Amy Emshwiller, was also interviewed by Wired in 2012. She said she wanted to rob McAfee, who she thought was a dumb millionaire. 

By 2013, McAfee had a harem of seven women living with him on the property. DailyMail.com exclusively

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