Interviews: McAfee Says House Fire Was No Accident 84
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.
And Yet You STILL Refuse to Name Them? (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
Re:Oh dear (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:McAfee is an attention whore loser (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:And Yet You STILL Refuse to Name Them? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.