John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US • Hacker News Board

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#221

Post by SllX » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:32 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #117

uncletammy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. In America, we're supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. It's a shame it really only takes an accusation.

"Innocent until proven guilty" is for the courts, who hold sway over one's freedom. It is perfectly acceptable as an individual to go, "yeah, he probably (because I, as an individual, aren't held to a 'reasonable doubt' standard, either) did it" just as it is perfectly acceptable to give some benefit of the doubt. But as others have already pointed out, a court already found him guilty, and it's moot anyway.

It’s not just a legal standard, it’s a fair minded principled default. If you have information that didn’t make it to trial or that is not legally actionable, you can make up your own mind. If you saw everything the Jury saw and nothing they didn’t see, and still would have voted differently, fine.

Innocent until proven guilty is an admission to your own flaws in judging another person. You can live life without that admission, but they are still present within you.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#222

Post by krylon » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:32 PM UTC

I remember that time, maybe 5-7 years ago, when he had a car chase with the police, followed by a little shootout. After the police apprehended him, he claimed he had mistaken them for his ex-wife, and also that he was on Xanax (and who knows what else).

One of a kind, that's for sure.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#223

Post by ceejayoz » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

throwkeep wrote: post #58

bethecloud wrote: post #8

From McAffee in 2019, "Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd. Check my right arm. " https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/120086428376625152...

October, 2020 I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine. https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/131680121508322509...

April, 2021

https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/138634987054662041...

> I have been imprisoned in Catalonia nearly 7 months. I speak no Catalan and little Spanish so human contact is limited. There are no entertainments - no escape from loneliness, from emptiness, from myself.

> This has been the most trying period of my life.

Turns out prison sucks after a while.

As for the food, he changed his tune on that, too:

https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/139145553961222553...

> Most prison food in Spain is indistinguishable from rat shit in motor oil. The single exception is potato pie, which is only served on Saturdays.

> Unfortunately today is Sunday.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#224

Post by CommieBobDole » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

bingidingi wrote: post #202

paulpauper wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have hard time believing this, either that he died or his motive. Tax evasion has one of the most lenient punishments of white collar crimes.

He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life. Goes without saying but he was also an incredibly paranoid person.

Yeah, but federal sentencing guidelines are complicated and it's very unlikely he'd serve anything like the possible maximum sentence. Trial probably would have dragged on for a few years and he'd eventually plead to something and serve a couple of years in a minimum security prison.

That said, he was 75, so I guess even a few years could potentially be a life sentence.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#225

Post by api » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

He clearly lost his mind at some point. Late John McAfee != early John McAfee. Heavy drug abuse and alcoholism looks to have played a role.

Giving tons of money to a chronic addict (like he got when he cashed out of his company) can be a death sentence.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#226

Post by bifrost » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

Thats awful.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#227

Post by viro » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

tromp wrote: post #220

Please don't link to websites that snub Europeans with the infamous "Our European visitors are important to us. This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws."

How about you fix ur laws then and stop banning EU companies from using US companies.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#228

Post by camel_Snake » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

prvc wrote: post #136

joshmn wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMDB[0] for those wondering. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6071534/

The existence itself of that movie demonstrates that many parties had it in for him.

I honestly can't tell if this is sarcasm or not.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#229

Post by bingidingi » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

nodesocket wrote: post #185

gkoberger wrote: post #32

I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. I mean, sure he built some antivirus software a few decades ago, but I don't think he deserves the eulogies he's getting here. He's not tech's Hunter S. Thompson; he's a murderer who spent the last years of his life screwing over people with crypto scams.

Here in America we have something called innocent until proven guilty.

"Innocent until proven guilty" does not mean "Abandon critical thought until a judge tells you otherwise" — this guy caught himself up in crimes literally everywhere he went... and this was after fleeing from a $25m judgement against him.

It seems a bit daft to think "gee, he probably did nothing wrong" simply because of how the American legal system is designed.

Re: John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail after court approves extradition to US

#230

Post by duskwuff » Wed, Jun 23, 2021, 8:34 PM UTC

godmode2019 wrote: post #103

gkoberger wrote: post #32

I feel like a lot of people in this thread are forgetting he likely killed his neighbor in 2012 and has been on the run since. I mean, sure he built some antivirus software a few decades ago, but I don't think he deserves the eulogies he's getting here. He's not tech's Hunter S. Thompson; he's a murderer who spent the last years of his life screwing over people with crypto scams.

You are stating something as fact, something that happened in another country. You are so well informed you watched a documentary and read some news articles. He ran for US president in the last few races. How was he on the run.

> He ran for US president

With a campaign slogan of "Don't Vote McAfee". And he failed to win the Libertarian nomination in either 2016 or 2020 -- he barely even placed in the 2020 nomination, winning a grand total of two write-in votes (out of over a thousand).

This was never a serious campaign. It was a publicity stunt.

> How was he on the run.

He conducted his "campaign" from a boat in the Caribbean, and described himself as "in exile".

https://www.cnet.com/news/john-mcafee-says-he-has-recruited-...