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Interviews: McAfee Says House Fire Was No Accident
According to reports a bush fire burned down John McAfee's home in Belize on Thursday. The local fire department was unable to to contain the blaze and the the two main buildings were completely destroyed. Property Manager Noel Codd (who was not there at the time) estimated the value of the buildings at $250,000 each. Despite the reported cause of the fire, McAfee says that the destruction of his compound was no accident. We caught up with him to talk about why he thinks the fire was set and what he plans to do now. Read below to see what he had to say.
samzenpus: What have you been told about the fire and what do you think happened?
McAfee: Well, the investigators say that it was arson, in spite of the local police saying that it was a brush fire. People don't set brush fires in high winds, so this was the last of the properties. The government took everything away from me. I mean they've got so blatant that at the very end they were coming in, in broad daylight and carrying off, you know, millions of dollars worth of electronic gear and camera gear. And one time they took 300 stun guns that I was going to give to the police department, in broad daylight. But one property was not in my name, and that was the one at the river. And so, finally in one last desperate attempt to get at me, they just set fire to my two major buildings. It was at least a half a million dollars worth of buildings plus art work and invaluable items on the inside that all went up in smoke. But there it is.
samzenpus: Was anyone living there?
McAfee: Just a caretaker.
samzenpus: And he's okay?
McAfee: The caretaker was not there at the time.
samzenpus: This was your last property in Belize?
McAfee: That was my last property in Belize, went up in smoke. It's a very freeing sensation to have no burdensome taxes to pay or wages for upkeep and electricity and what have you. So they did me a favor.
samzenpus: Did anyone see anything suspicious or anyone hanging around?
McAfee: The police have actually arrested a couple of people. But if they're the ones who started the fire, they have nothing to do with it really. Just someone, you know, paid them $25 to "go and set that house on fire." The people responsible, I know who they are, and they're the same ones who've been responsible for taking all of my stuff since I was in Belize. And now there's nothing left for them to take. They must be pretty pissed off.
samzenpus: They haven't said anything to you directly or anything of course?
McAfee: No, of course not. And once I left the country, all attempts to do any formal charges simply disappeared because there was no way that they could do any formal charges. They had no evidence. They had nothing on me other than I refused to give a $2 million donation back in 2012. You know, so all they can do now is cause me a little bit of chaos and inconvenience, which I think they can cause me no more now.
McAfee: Well, the investigators say that it was arson, in spite of the local police saying that it was a brush fire. People don't set brush fires in high winds, so this was the last of the properties. The government took everything away from me. I mean they've got so blatant that at the very end they were coming in, in broad daylight and carrying off, you know, millions of dollars worth of electronic gear and camera gear. And one time they took 300 stun guns that I was going to give to the police department, in broad daylight. But one property was not in my name, and that was the one at the river. And so, finally in one last desperate attempt to get at me, they just set fire to my two major buildings. It was at least a half a million dollars worth of buildings plus art work and invaluable items on the inside that all went up in smoke. But there it is.
samzenpus: Was anyone living there?
McAfee: Just a caretaker.
samzenpus: And he's okay?
McAfee: The caretaker was not there at the time.
samzenpus: This was your last property in Belize?
McAfee: That was my last property in Belize, went up in smoke. It's a very freeing sensation to have no burdensome taxes to pay or wages for upkeep and electricity and what have you. So they did me a favor.
samzenpus: Did anyone see anything suspicious or anyone hanging around?
McAfee: The police have actually arrested a couple of people. But if they're the ones who started the fire, they have nothing to do with it really. Just someone, you know, paid them $25 to "go and set that house on fire." The people responsible, I know who they are, and they're the same ones who've been responsible for taking all of my stuff since I was in Belize. And now there's nothing left for them to take. They must be pretty pissed off.
samzenpus: They haven't said anything to you directly or anything of course?
McAfee: No, of course not. And once I left the country, all attempts to do any formal charges simply disappeared because there was no way that they could do any formal charges. They had no evidence. They had nothing on me other than I refused to give a $2 million donation back in 2012. You know, so all they can do now is cause me a little bit of chaos and inconvenience, which I think they can cause me no more now.
Stop feeding this loser's paranoia and fame, he is an irrelevant person, that hasn't mattered in decades.
What is with the quotes at the bottom of the page that sometimes have strange words in all caps?
Never figured that one out.
News at 11 pm, but you probably can't wait that long so here's the news at noon. It probably wasn't even the government. It was probably just an angry mob of McAfee users that finally found him. You can only piss off so many people for so long.
No, of course not. And once I left the country, all attempts to do any formal charges simply disappeared because there was no way that they could do any formal charges. They had no evidence. They had nothing on me other than I refused to give a $2 million donation back in 2012. You know, so all they can do now is cause me a little bit of chaos and inconvenience, which I think they can cause me no more now.
As I tried to ask during the first interview who are these people? What have you got to lose in naming them right now? Do they have power in the United States? What's holding you back?!
They can cause you no more chaos or inconvenience and yet you refuse to name them -- WHY? This could only be further evidence in your accusations! Do I have to buy your book to find out or something?
My work here is dung.
The day that Slashdot finally became a gossip mag has arrived.
Tomorrow on Slashdot we interview Britney Spears about her new tits and on Wednesday we'll have an interview with Taylor Swift about how many times she feels she's been shafted by her boyfriends.
Really, McAfee is the best celebrity you can get Slashdot? He's not even had anything to do with tech for what, 20 years?
No really, who cares? What does this have to do with tech news?
fuk jon mcafeeee
You're right...
It was probably a mob of angry sys admins who decided to burn down his house after suffering years of poor performance and system lag from the product that bears his name.
I don't get it: Why does Slashdot keep reporting on McCafee things? In the interview that he gave the other day, he made it clear that he has -nothing- to do with McCafee anymore: So as such, it just makes him 'a regular guy' (in as much, with his lifestyle, he can be called 'regular'). So why is Slashdot insisting on letting these articles come through? I seriously don't get it...
>> why he thinks the fire was set
"Because I killed someone and their ghost is mad." I kid, I kid...
"Mick-kaf-fee" or "Mack-uh-fee"? Never gotten a straight answer.
The question everyone asks whenever there is a story about this idiot.
n/t
Good lord, my man, this is JOHN MCAFEE, you gotta wait for the book. And even then, it's going to be obfuscated through the form of popular internet memes. "All your base are belong to us" or something like that will indicate it's the Russians while a picture of an owl with the caption "O RLY" means the product manager for Microsoft Security Essentials is after him.
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
Since when was raising a firewall ever an accident?
McAfee says that the destruction of his compound was no accident.
Remind me why we care about this guy? Just because his name is on some software that he is no longer involved with doesn't make it relevant. Every story I've had the misfortune of coming across regarding this guy leads me to believe he is a (possibly paranoid) publicity seeker who is telling a bunch of tall tales in order to get attention. Enough already.
learned from Edi$on...
He should be glad to get it all behind him.
I see lots of people don't know how it works in the world, but he escaped with his life, and should forget about it and move on.
I bet you're real fun at parties.
I bet you're real brave at parties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_fraud
I read every JM story here on /. just for the amusement of watching all the neckbeards whine about why this is neither "news for nerds" nor "stuff that matters". Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
That, and watching a rich crazee person self-destruct from a safe distance is much more amusing than an ant farm.
/. please stop paying attention to this man, and he'll go away.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
Yeah, telling a McAfee joke at a party can get you in trouble. Slightly ironic, this criticism, coming from a fellow Anonymous Coward. And what a stupid statement anyway. "Ha! You're an AC on Slashdot bet you won't tell a joke at a party, scaredycat!" Wow, you've really thrown down the gauntlet on this one. But you caught me. Instead of using my real name like Synerg1y, I posted AC. Huge difference there.
Amongst all of the guilty or not guilty arguments and paranoia vs reality, let us not forget that he made one of the worst antivirus suites known to man and that's what's really most important here.
Wow, you must be really cool, comparing Slashdot to parties while posting as AC.
Please, for the love of humanity, tell me you aren't really this stupid.
Wish I had mod points... Escaping from being a target is one thing, waging war is quite another matter. Corrupt and even small organized crime eventually dabbles in drugs (readers do realize Belize is a drug haven??) and that market has a FAR reach not just with money but the employees in that industry are dangerous and some quite desperate. Bring attention to some mild players who may draw attention to some bigger "job creators" who don't want the attention and they can cheaply and easily afford to mark you for death. Hell, too much sunlight might bring up CIA connections causing even more troubles... it's McAfee... who will be thinking beyond just reasonable theories.
He is right about the $25 to some nobody to burn down a house. Could be somebody who just thought he was a crazy prick paid somebody to do it. Hell, if he could get insurance or publicity, he could wire somebody down there to do it to himself with little chance of it tracking back to him.
I don't find his story that crazy - clueless nerds living on the computer without much exposure to corruption, having hardly left the basement or cubical... Many people will sound a bit nuts when in a new unknown situation in a panic; it would be normal to be extra paranoid until adjusting to the reality. People who are odd or eccentric or a little crazy are often easily dismissed like a retard eyewitness. What they say could be completely correct and it is foolish to completely dismiss their word. I bet a lot of nerds on here would be hard pressed to win public support if they were accused of molesting children... the introverted nerd types who are not well known and popular are easy targets for people's imaginations... You don't even have to have any flaws to be mischaracterized.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
News at 10.
McAfee is this year's version of Howard Hughes.
Just because a bunch of people make you rich buying your product doesn't mean you are particularly adept or smart. It just means you tapped into a vein of current popularity.Oprah isn't any smarter than she would be without $80 billion.
McAfee OTOH doesn't even appear to have the smarts he started with. He is correct to be paranoid because people _are_ out to get him.
He owes them money.
Oh lord, here we go again. I bet you're really fun at parties!
I was going to give this paranoid psychotic the satisfaction of another post, but decided the better and deleted it.
who needs news when we have a fugly kardashian?
I guess their logistics weren't all that good and he had to do with what they supplied him with.
Then they weren't a very good gang, now were they? I'm surprised he couldn't arrange something better via the silk road and whatnot. Idiot(drug user).
I don't read AC A human right
How much was the insurance policy on those properties worth?