Anti-virus company founder John McAfee claims to have uncovered "hard proof of corruption" in Belize after allegedly distributing dozens of infected laptops to spy on officials.
In a blog post last week, the 67-year-old detailed an alleged espionage operation that involved 75 laptops installed with espionage malware capable of logging keystrokes and hijacking users' microphones and cameras.
The antics of security software founder John McAfee may have seemed pretty insane, but he now says that at least some of his actions were a ruse.
McAfee, speaking with ABC News after arriving in the U.S., said he faked an illness to avoid being sent back to Belize from Guatemala, and he also thanked the media for closely covering his story.
"It was a deception but who did it hurt? I look pretty healthy, don't I?," he said during an interview with ABC at a Miami Beach hotel.
The antivirus pioneer John McAfee is headed back to the United States after authorities in Guatemala expelled him earlier today for illegally entering the country in an attempt to escape authorities in Belize, where he is wanted for questioning in connection with a murder.
In a phone interview with Bloomberg News this afternoon, the 67-year old said he was being put on an American Airlines flight to Miami on Wednesday afternoon.
The John McAfee story continues with more “drama.” According to a post published on his blog, the antivirus software pioneer will be released from detention after a Guatemalan judge has determined that his arrest was illegal.
Furthermore, his representatives believe that he will be allowed to return to the US as he wanted.
Software company founder John McAfee was arrested by Guatemalan police for entering the country illegally, ending his bizarre weekslong journey as a blogging fugitive claiming to be persecuted by authorities in Belize.
Weeks of international intrigue about the whereabouts of tech millionaire John McAfee ended Tuesday after the internet pioneer made an elementary digital mistake that highlighted the fraught relationship Americans have with what they once quaintly called "the telephone".
Software company founder John McAfee has claimed in a blog post that he evaded authorities in Belize by staging an elaborate distraction in neighbouring Mexico. It is a turn typical of the bizarre saga of the eccentric antivirus company founder who's wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of a fellow American ex-pat.
In an email to the Associated Press, McAfee confirmed a post on his website in which he described, in what appeared to be joking tones, how he mounted the ruse.
The ongoing saga of John McAfee, the tech entrepreneur-turned-fugitive, took a twist today when Vice magazine published a photo that appeared to indicate he had taken refuge in Guatemala.
That deduction was based on the EXIF location metadata associated with the image, which the camera applications included with iOS and Android devices include, depending on what privacy settings are configured. Some news organizations, as well as Sophos, seized on that apparent security lapse.
When it comes to John McAfee, nothing's ever easy.
The antivirus software pioneer and Internet security mogul – pick whichever common description of McAfee you prefer – may or may not still be hiding out in Belize at the moment, depending on which news source you believe.
On November 12, Belizean police announced that anti-virus software tycoon John McAfee was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of Gregory Faull, his neighbor on a tropical island. The police launched a manhunt in the tiny Central American nation, which is still ongoing.
As the news broke, I was just finishing up a six-month investigation into McAfee’s life for a Wired magazine feature planned for the January issue. In light of the murder and ensuing manhunt, Wired published the feature early, and at expanded length, as a 13-chapter e-book.
