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Interviews: McAfee Says House Fire Was No Accident 84

Posted by samzenpus from the burning-down-the-house dept.
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.
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Interviews: McAfee Says House Fire Was No Accident More

Interviews: McAfee Says House Fire Was No Accident

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  • McAfee is an attention whore loser (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 20, 2013 @10:52AM (#43773913)

    Stop feeding this loser's paranoia and fame, he is an irrelevant person, that hasn't mattered in decades.

    • Re:McAfee is an attention whore loser (Score:5, Interesting)

      by interkin3tic ( 1469267 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @11:22AM (#43774193)
      "Irrelevant?" I found his legal troubles far more interesting than any antivirus software. "Attention whore?" If you read news, even news for nerds, you will come across people who are trying to get attention. Actually, let me back up further. If you take part in the human world, you will encounter people who are seeking attention. This guy isn't particularly bad either. It seems that he actually has an interesting story beyond the usual attention whore "Oops, I had sex while a camera was pointed at me and now it's everywhere."

      ... That said, samzenpus and McAfee, don't get any ideas. Please do not release a sex tape involving John McAfee. Ever.

      • Somehow - I find it hard to take any drug using nutcase seriously. Bath salts? Hmmm, yeah, alright.

        "If there is one thing society can learn from the soap opera now engulfing tech zillionaire John McAfee, it is that rectal shelving is the best way to take the psychoactive drug MDPV, marketed and known colloquially as bath salts. “Measure your dose,” McAfee wrote on a psychonaut forum two years ago, under his Stuffmonger handle. “Apply a small amount of saliva to the middle finger, press i

        • Re:McAfee is an attention whore loser (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @12:11PM (#43774647) Homepage Journal

          Forgive me, but psychoactive suppositories?

          Maybe it's my cynical nature, but I tend more towards 'Bath Salts? Really? You're a millionaire, get the good stuff!'

          The difference between a lawyer and a stocker is that the lawyer is expected to keep a handle on his coke habit.

          Meth, 'Incense', and 'Bath Salts' are for poor people. Rich people should be able to afford the real stuff with fewer side effects. :( (sad for the poor people, everybody should be able to get decent drugs if they're going to do it)

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

            McAfee had a local gang supplying him with what they had. That's the apparent issue that government actually had with him - he was very much in the local gang, and they supplied him with whatever they had. I guess their logistics weren't all that good and he had to do with what they supplied him with.

            • 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).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          The walls in colon absorb alcohol and many other drugs extremely efficiently, far more efficiently then administering them orally. It's a fairly widely known thing that if you want to get drunk off very little booze, you need to pour it into your rectal opening.

          Of course the practice is extremely dangerous for a number of reasons, typically far more dangerous then oral administering of the same drugs.

      • It seems that he actually has an interesting story beyond the usual attention whore "Oops, I had sex while a camera was pointed at me and now it's everywhere."

        No, instead this guy is the "Hey, the gubament/authorities are always out to get me in a big conspiracy" attention whore. This guy has cried wolf too many times, already. I wouldn't be surprised if he deliberately set the fire himself.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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.

      When he said that, he was looking at YOU!

      But seriously, when you live in a strange place, you begin to think strangely as you acclimate to the environment and people around you.
      I don't know McAfee, but smart people can (mentally) move in directions we won't understand when many social/cultural barriers are removed.
      So they might appear perverted because they're outside of what we c

  • 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 [slashdot.org]? 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?

    • 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.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/john-mcafee-net-worth/ [celebritynetworth.com] and http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celebrity-business/ceo/john-mcafee-net-worth/ [therichest.org] both say hes worth $4m but don't give a date.
      I hope he's got enough left. Either way hes a smart guy so i'm sure he'll land on his feet.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        When was that updated? Should that be $3.5 m?

    • Re:And Yet You STILL Refuse to Name Them? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @12:02PM (#43774579) Journal

      You don't name them because sometimes you have had enough trouble. He has no more interest in Belize; so he might be right they have done all the harm they can to him there and it should be over. Lets further speculate that they were not just interested in harming McAfee, they wanted to extort money from him like he says.

      What has happened. Well they have used what leverage they had to get what they were able to out of him. There interest was always money they got what they want, they'll now move on. It sucks for McAfee but if the system is as corrupt their as he claims than its a safe bet anything he could do get restitution would cost him more than he could hope to recover. He'd probably have to hire his own goon squad. So for him it may be best to leave it alone now. Let these guys move on to more accessible targets.

      On the other hand if he starts naming names and cause unwanted attention to be paid to these people now suddenly they might find motivation to shut him up. These are the type of people who commit extortion and arson, If I were him unless i had some way to get the upper hand in the situation I don't think I'd be especially inclined to find out if they are above murder. I'd want to disentangle myself from them.

      Know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em. Fighting is best left for conflicts you can win; and revenge tastes just as sweet cold.

      • 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

  • Oh dear (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Xest ( 935314 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @10:55AM (#43773947)

    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?

    • Re:Oh dear (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @11:09AM (#43774059)
      It seems /. has a particular relationship with mr MacAfee, that allows /. to get some kind of confessions directly from him, that you won't see anywhere else. Well, Torvald, Ballmer or Steve Jobs (from the Dead) would be better, but that's a start.
    • Because Britney Spears and Taylor Swift basically invented the modern antivirus right. Great comparison there bud. Funny how i dont see people bitching when there is an article about the Woz saying someshit.

    • I think I'd rather start with the tits and shaft, that is certainly "stuff that matters".

      I'm not sure that former owners of anti-virus companies are really all that interesting, and this one seems to have a fuller life than most.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by D1G1T ( 1136467 )

        I'm not sure that former owners of anti-virus companies are really all that interesting, and this one seems to have a fuller life than most.

        Nope. These decadent, entitled, narcissistic expats are a dime a dozen in the third world. The locals get tired of the drugs and prostitutes and the related crimes and kick them out.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PRMan ( 959735 )
        You're on the wrong site. Try people.com or TMZ...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geek ( 5680 )

      Really, McAfee is the best celebrity you can get Slashdot? He's not even had anything to do with tech for what, 20 years?

      Careful what you wish for. We'll end up with an RMS/Linus sex tape or something.

    • The day that Slashdot finally became a gossip mag has arrived.

      I'd say it's becoming more like the techie version of the Howard Stern Show. McAfee is just one of the premier members of The Wack Pack [wikipedia.org], like High Pitch Erik. People are fascinated by train wrecks:

      • CrackAfee (John McAfee)
      • Crazy Lauren Guy (Lauren Weinstein [slashdot.org])
        The name informs people up front to take Lauren's submissions with a grain of salt, and heads off all the uninformed incorrect gender-specific pronouns that inevitably get applied to him
      • Nick the Troll Prostitute (Nerval's Lobster [slashdot.org])
        The name informs peo

  • Who cares (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    No really, who cares? What does this have to do with tech news?

  • >> why he thinks the fire was set

    "Because I killed someone and their ghost is mad." I kid, I kid...

  • Since when was raising a firewall ever an accident?

  • Enough already (Score:4, Informative)

    by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Monday May 20, 2013 @11:26AM (#43774237)

    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.

  • /. please stop paying attention to this man, and he'll go away.

  • 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.
  • 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.

  • I was going to give this paranoid psychotic the satisfaction of another post, but decided the better and deleted it.

  • How much was the insurance policy on those properties worth?

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