11.18.12
The Quick and Twisted Fall of John McAfee
Over the last several years, Mr. McAfee began to put a large chunk of his [anti-virus] fortune into real estate, often in remote locations. He bought the house in New Mexico as a playground for himself and fellow aerotrekkers, people who fly unlicensed, open-cockpit planes. On a 157-acre spread, he built a general store, a 35-seat movie theater and a cafe, and he bought vintage cars for his visitors to use.
He continued to invest in financial markets, sometimes borrowing money to increase the potential returns. He typically chose his investments based on suggestions from his financial advisers. One of their recommendations was to put millions of dollars into bonds tied to Lehman Brothers.
For a while, Mr. McAfee’s good run, like that of many of the American wealthy, seemed to continue. In the wake of the dot-com crash, stocks started rising again, while house prices just continued to rise. Outside’s Go magazine and National Geographic Adventure ran articles on his New Mexico property, leading to him to believe that “this was the hottest property on the planet,??? he said.
But then things began to change.
In 2007, Mr. McAfee sold a 10,000-square-foot home in Colorado with a view of Pike’s Peak. He had spent $25 million to buy the property and build the house. He received $5.7 million for it. When Lehman collapsed last fall, its bonds became virtually worthless. Mr. McAfee’s stock investments cost him millions more.
One day, he realized, as he said, “Whoa, my cash is gone.???
His remaining net worth of about $4 million makes him vastly wealthier than most Americans, of course. But he has nonetheless found himself needing cash and desperately trying to reduce his monthly expenses.
From everywhere, allegedly John McAfee, on the drug called “bath salts”, sometime about a year ago on-line:
I think it’s the finest drug ever conceived, not just for the indescribable hypersexuality, but also for the smooth euphoria and mild comedown.
Way more than you may want to know about the astonishing crack-up of John McAfee, and more pictures, from the Daily Mail.
The story, in pictures, of a man in the vice of a raging sulphate addiction, apparently. Belize, where a number of white, wealthy American men go for native nubiles, do drugs, and die.
McAfee, being 67, is old and delusional enough to be influenced by both Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson.
The rich aren’t like you and me. But the story of John McAfee certainly takes the cake.