John McAfee Net Worth: John McAfee, a British American who emigrated to the United States, established the multinational software firm McAfee, which specializes in computer security. One of the most important people in the history of computer security, he was an authority on topics such as online privacy, international hacking scandals, and risks to national security.
McAfee had a challenging upbringing as the kid of an English mother and an American soldier in the 1940s. John was only 15 years old when his drunken, violent father took his own life. Despite having a rough upbringing, he turned out to be an intelligent and successful adult.
But he, too, succumbed to drink and drug abuse and had a propensity for erratic, offbeat conduct. He was in the midst of his doctoral studies when he was expelled from the university for engaging in sexual activity with a student he was supervising.
After that, he got a position as a computer programmer at NASA’s New York City space research center. Despite his strange conduct and habits, he was easily hired by reputable companies because of his intelligence. After working in various professions, he decided to put his business acumen to good use and sell the computer anti-virus company he founded, McAfee Associates.
Tribal Voice and QuorumEx are two of his other entrepreneurial endeavors. He declared his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. presidency as a member of the Cyber Party in September 2015. In both the 2016 and 2020 US Presidential elections, he unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination.
John McAfee Early Life
John David McAfee entered the world on a U.S. Army base at Cinderford, England on September 18, 1945. Both of his parents are military personnel; his mother is British and his father is an American stationed at the facility.
McAfee grew up in the American city of Salem, Virginia. He claims he has no more trouble being British than he does being American. McAfee was 15 years old when his father, an abusive alcoholic, shot himself.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia in 1967. In 2008, he received an honorary Sc.D. from the university for his achievements.
John McAfee Career
McAfee started working for NASA’s Institute for Space Studies in New York City in 1968, right after he finished college. He stayed there until 1970. He worked on the application as a programmer. Before joining Xerox as an operating system architect, he worked as a software designer at Univac after leaving NASA.
McAfee switched his career from programmer to consultant in 1978, when he started working for Computer Sciences Corporation. Thereafter, he spent 1980–1982 at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. While employed by Lockheed in the 1980s, McAfee began creating virus-fighting software. For example, after obtaining a copy of the Brain computer virus, he started developing anti-virus software.
McAfee quit his previous employment in 1987 to establish McAfee Associates, an anti-virus software development firm. The business was officially incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1992, after having been in operation for a few years prior.
He worked there for another two years until finally leaving in 1994. Then, two years after McAfee Associates went public, he sold all of his shares for $100 million because he was tired of the software industry. McAfee Associates joined another firm called Network General in 1997 to establish what is now known as Network Associates. Network Associates became McAfee, Inc. after an additional seven years. In August of 2010, Intel acquired McAfee Inc.
It had a separate brand from Intel until January 2014, when products related to McAfee started being sold under the name Intel Security. In 2017, Intel’s security division, McAfee, Inc., was separated from the company and formed into McAfee, LLC, a joint venture with TPG Capital.
McAfee lost millions of dollars on a string of disastrous investments, including a huge bet on Lehman Brothers’ bonds, and was forced to sell his real estate and other assets for a fraction of their original value. Here’s one example: McAfee got $5.7 million for his $25 million Colorado mansion. He also unloaded a Cessna personal plane, a New Mexico ranch, and a Hawaii house.
John McAfee Legal Issues
McAfee’s previous home was in the Belizean town of Orange Walk Town. The Belizean police department’s Gang Suppression Unit conducted a search of his home in April 2012. McAfee was first detained on suspicion of manufacturing drugs without a license and possessing a firearm without a permit, but he was eventually freed without any charges being filed against him.
In November of the same year (2012), McAfee became a person of interest in the murder of an American ex-pat in Belize. On the 11th of November, 2012, Gregory Viant Faull was discovered dead at his Belizean house. A gunshot to the head was the cause of his death. McAfee’s ties to Faull were of interest to the police because Faull had been his neighbor. McAfee ultimately fled Belize when authorities began searching for him in connection with Faull’s murder.
On December 5, 2012, he attempted to enter Guatemala and seek refuge in the country, but he was arrested upon his arrival in Guatemala City. His appeal for asylum was denied, and he was held in a Guatemalan detention camp until his deportation was scheduled.
McAfee was deported from Guatemala back to the United States on December 6, 2012, after he was released from incarceration on that date despite having suffered two small heart attacks while in jail, as reported by ABC News. McAfee later admitted that he had staged the heart attacks so that his lawyer would have more time to launch an appeal on his behalf.
McAfee has faced numerous legal problems since then. He was apprehended in Tennessee in August 2015 on charges of DUI and drunken gun possession. The wrongful death complaint filed against McAfee for Faull’s death in Guatemala was not dismissed in November 2018 by the Circuit Court in Orlando, Florida.
In early 2019, he was hit with yet another lawsuit, this time for unpaid taxes, and a Grand Jury was formed to prosecute him. So, in January of this year, he made an announcement that he was evading U.S. officials by living aboard a boat. His legal troubles continue, as he has been arrested multiple times. His yacht was parked in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, when he was apprehended there in July 2019. After four days in custody, he was finally released.
He was taken into custody in Spain that October of 2020 on a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for tax evasion. The Spanish authorities declared their willingness to extradite John to the United States on June 23, 2021. It was tragic that later that day, John took his own life. He was 75.
John McAfee’s Net Worth
American IT entrepreneur John McAfee had a $4 million Net Worth when he passed away. As the pioneering CEO of the anti-virus software giant McAfee, he first gained fame and fortune. Once worth more than $100 million, John McAfee had his fortune dwindle due to poor financial decisions and the worldwide economic downturn of 2008. In his later years, John was involved in a number of court disputes. At the age of 75, he took his own life on June 23, 2021.
John McAfee Personal Life
Today would have been John's 76th birthday. As we continue to wait for news from the courts I wanted to share some of my favourite memories of John. To honor John please share any photos you may have taken of or with him using #JohnMcAfeeDidNotKillHimself & #JusticeForJohnMcAfee. pic.twitter.com/5iEQCTi7zx
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) September 18, 2021
McAfee was approached by a sex worker in South Beach, Miami, after his return to the United States following his expulsion from Guatemala in December 2012. After dating for a while, McAfee proposed to and married Janice Dyson in 2013.
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