John McAfee Indicted for Tax Evasion:
An indictment was unsealed today charging John David McAfee with tax evasion and willful failure to file tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee. The June 15, 2020 indictment was unsealed following McAfee's arrest in Spain where he is pending extradition.
According to the indictment, John McAfee earned millions in income from promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary. From 2014 to 2018, McAfee allegedly failed to file tax returns, despite receiving considerable income from these sources. The indictment does not allege that during these years McAfee received any income or had any connection with the anti-virus company bearing his name.
According to the indictment, McAfee allegedly evaded his tax liability by directing his income to be paid into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees. The indictment further alleges McAfee attempted to evade the IRS by concealing assets, including real property, a vehicle, and a yacht, in the names of others.
If convicted, McAfee faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each count of tax evasion and a maximum sentence of one year in prison on each count of willful failure to file a tax return. McAfee also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
Coverage at:
ArsTechnica, AP News, Reuters, TechCrunch, and others.
Related Stories
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror Software creator John McAfee was found dead in his Spanish jail cell Wednesday evening. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the SoylentNews community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Netcraft confirms it, as does NYPost - an "apparent suicide".
John McAfee was found dead in his cell in a prison near Barcelona on Wednesday. McAfee was awaiting extradition in a Spanish prison after being charged with tax evasion in the United States last year. McAfee was arrested in Spain in October after being indicted in the United States for tax evasion months earlier. He allegedly failed to file taxes for four years despite earning millions in income between 2014 and 2018 from promoting cryptocurrencies.
Also at the Associated Press, The Register, CNN, and CNBC.
See also: How To Uninstall McAfee Antivirus
Previously: John McAfee Announces He Will Run For President of the United States
On TV, John McAfee Says Cracking an iPhone is Trivial
Johnny Depp to Star in Movie About John McAfee
John McAfee's "Unhackable" Cryptocurrency Wallet Has Been Hacked (Again)
John McAfee Indicted for Tax Evasion
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4
(Score: 5, Insightful) by canopic jug on Tuesday October 06 2020, @08:48AM (25 children)
Whether or not it is the case with what McAfee has been up to, indictments are infamously easy to come by [nycourts.gov]. The US tax code is so convoluted and byzantine that it could be used to nail anyone any time, big or small, rich or poor, for something. I expect that once they get him stateside they can continue digging and then come up with some parallel construction to get him for whatever else they already have but can't press charges on ... yet. The taxes are just an excuse to get him into custody.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:03AM (8 children)
I expect that this indictment is in invitation (by the current administration) for McAffee to stay in Belize indefinitely.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:51AM
It would but they appear to have nabbed him in Spain, opening up some previously secret indictments held for just such an occasion.
It's not all tax stuff though. There are some allegations of fraud from the SEC at least. Also, he's not politically well connected like Bill Gates has been so he'll not be able to brush that off so easily should he fail negotiations and they become actual charges.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Tuesday October 06 2020, @12:39PM (6 children)
Didn't he shoot his neighbor? https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/did-tech-mogul-john-mcafee-kill-his-neighbour-belize-and-if-not-why-he-run-8313297.html [independent.co.uk]
I am not telling it's true, but I am sure whatever banana republic can be easily persuaded, Assange style.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 06 2020, @01:25PM (5 children)
Exactly: He can't go to Belize because he'd have to answer to murder charges there.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 06 2020, @05:13PM (4 children)
So, that just leaves: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mainland China, Comoros, Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican, Vietnam and Yemen.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 06 2020, @07:17PM (3 children)
Yeah, there are some problems with that plan:
1. Getting to any of those requires crossing an ocean without ever entering the territorial waters of any of the nations that want to arrest you, any of the nations with an extradition treaty of the nations that want to arrest you, and without being caught by the US Navy or Coast Guard (what, you thought being in international waters would leave the US government saying "fine, you're not a crook"?), and without being taken out by pirates. Easier said than done.
2. While countries without an extradition treaty don't have to give up a criminal suspect to the nation that wants them, they can still do so if they want to. And while they might be sympathetic to, say, a political exile, they're less likely to be sympathetic to someone on the run from a murder charge, because the last thing they'd want is to let him in and then he starts murdering their citizens.
3. Some of those countries you listed (Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen) are experiencing war right now, so unless you like getting killed by drone strikes or bombs or just shot on the street you probably don't want to be there.
4. If the US really wants to get to you badly enough, and the country where you are hiding isn't giving you up, they can send in troops to get you. That rules out pretty much everybody but Russia and China and their close allies.
5. Because this is a financial crime, any money you have in banks in most jurisdictions can and will be frozen and/or seized.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 06 2020, @08:34PM (2 children)
If he's nicked in Spain, it's probably game over already.
If he was smart, he probably wouldn't have had that Gringo film made about him - unless he's some sort of stable genius mark two... he is more entertaining [foxnews.com] than a blood orange screaming YOU'RE FIRED!
But... if he's somehow managed to fuel up the yacht - military operations are really expensive, and he's probably not a rich enough target to finance his own covert capture, or much of a search effort on the part of "cooperating" countries. Turn off the ship's location transponder and hope for the best.
The long list is of course full of undesirables, but... Brunei, Indonesia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Vanuatu and Vietnam doesn't sound like too bad of a menu to choose from - plus some of those I left out if you have friends there.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday October 07 2020, @05:13PM (1 child)
Not sure about all the rest, but you'd have to be stupid to flee US custody by going to the Marshall Islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands [wikipedia.org]
Also:
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 07 2020, @08:43PM
Yeah, sounded fishy to me - I pulled up one of the top Google results for countries without extradition treaties with the U.S. - the results may actually be sponsored by the State Department - the list also did not include Belize, definitely consult international lawyers before deciding...
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @02:11PM (2 children)
Did you watch that last night?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday October 06 2020, @05:39PM (1 child)
No. never heard about indicting a ham sandwich.
(Score: 2, Informative) by aixylinux on Tuesday October 06 2020, @06:38PM
Refer to this paper: Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything is a Crime
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2203713 [ssrn.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday October 06 2020, @03:54PM (11 children)
> US tax code is so convoluted and byzantine
Yes, and deliberately so. I resent being forced to use tax preparation software or services. But that's the point of making it so horrifically complicated. The IRS has a lot of the data, but they're not allowed to fill in anything whatsoever on the tax forms. So that data becomes a trap. If your numbers aren't the same as the the IRS numbers, which can happen all too easily through innocent mistakes, never mind any cheating, then you're in trouble. They tend to assume the worst. With taxes, the IRS thinks you're guilty until proven innocent.
Neither can the IRS release computerized forms. It is asking so much to have the tax forms done up as spreadsheets, as well as paper? The most I still see are PDFs of the forms.
These tax prep bandits even have the nerve to guarantee that you will be safe from IRS accusations if you buy their products and services. It's to their advantage to push this narrative that the IRS can and will wreck your life over the smallest of mistakes. It's a protection racket, with the IRS in the role of the sadistic muscle who enjoy breaking things.
This is just yet another of the many things in which our "democracy" ignores the will of the people. I should guess there is in excess of 90% in favor of simpler taxation. (A small minority actually likes the complexity because it makes it easier to hide things.) Lessig said much the same about copyright reform: over 90% in favor of shortening copyright term lengths, yet they just stay the same or get extended. The record keeping that is necessary to comply with IRS rules is a huge burden. No, 7 years is not enough. To properly compute some numbers, you may need a lifetime of records. The biggest problem I've had is financial organizations losing all their records when they merge, leaving me to sift through 20 year old paper statements I received in the mail and stored away somewhere. One little rule change, and, oh shit, need more data!
A rough one was some life insurance I had that "demutualized". It got converted to stock in the insurance company. I kept the stock for years, solely because I couldn't figure out what the cost basis was supposed to be. Didn't know I had to care about that at the time I received the stock. Finally, I said the heck with it, and in a year when my income was next to nothing (gig economy, you know), sold it and went with a cost basis of $0, meaning that I paid $0 for that stock, and so must treat the full value of the stock as taxable profit. If you paid $1000 for stock and sold it for $1500, you have to pay tax on $500 in profits. I was having to report it as all $1500 of that value as profit, though the stock was not free. Shouldn't the cost have been whatever I paid for the life insurance, minus the insurer's costs? Very much like the kind of toll road that hands out tickets at your entry point, and then charges you at the exit point. I44 in Oklahoma was like that, though I think they changed their system some years ago, to get rid of the paper. Used to be, lose that ticket, and they will demand you pay the highest amount, the amount you would pay if you got on the tollway at the most distant entry point. Because my income was so low that year, the standard deduction more than erased the taxes on that "profit". Anyway, not buying any more life insurance, not when they can pull stuff like that to complicate my life.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @05:58PM (1 child)
only cowards, idiots and sell-outs, or a combination of the three, pay the federal income tax. what's your excuse?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday October 06 2020, @06:43PM
Little people pay taxes. Warren Buffet pays less income tax than his secretary. I don't have millions to throw around to buy off politicians to pass tax exemptions that benefit me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:52PM
I am in the same boat for stock I have that was converted from the fee they charged to be a member. Now it just keeps adding up - I convert all income to shares - so trying to work out the tax on it? Call it $10 for one "share" that was converted to 130 shares on IPO, then add 15 or so shard per year purchased with remittances. Its easier just not to sell them.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:52PM (1 child)
This part reminds me of a thread I saw on the old green site once upon a time. It began with a poster who claimed to be a former IRS employee and went on to complain about how unreasonable and detrimental to his job it was that taxpayers kept committing suicide while being targetted for an audit. Anyone else remember that one?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday October 07 2020, @02:24PM
That sort of rings a bell. Do you recall if anyone checked that claim? It does sound too far fetched to be real. And yet, with what we've seen of late, the callous bureaucrat whining that suicides are making his job harder doesn't seem so improbable.
(Score: 3, Informative) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday October 06 2020, @11:04PM
When blaming people for how complex and frustrating the tax preparation process is, don't forget to include the Republican party. They want to lower taxes, so it is in their interest to have as many people as possible angry and frustrated about everything tax related.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/the-10-second-tax-return/475899/ [theatlantic.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday October 07 2020, @02:00AM (4 children)
This is just yet another of the many things in which our "democracy" ignores the will of the people. I should guess there is in excess of 90% in favor of simpler taxation.
Oh bullshit. The people approve of the current system through inaction and ignorance. Any time I try to talk to someone about how much simpler taxes are in other countries, where they do your taxes for you and just send you a pre-filled form to either amend or sign, they either had no idea, or they just brush it off because "USA is #1!!" and no other country could possibly be better than us. We the people are getting exactly what we're voting for. No one is pushing for a change to the law to require the IRS to pre-fill these forms for you like in other countries, so we don't get it.
Anyway, not buying any more life insurance, not when they can pull stuff like that to complicate my life.
I've never understood how life insurance really made much sense anyway. If you're single, it's a complete waste of money. If you have a family, it makes more sense to just put money into a brokerage account and invest it in stable investments.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday October 07 2020, @11:15AM (3 children)
Life insurance didn't make sense, once I realized they'd lied, and that what I thought was supposed to be a fixed payment amount was actually increased every year. Totally changed the numbers, making what I thought was an investment with a low but still positive rate of return, into one with a negative rate of return.
They weren't through with their tricks. Instead of cancelling it when I quit paying, they invoked this provision to have it borrow against itself, to fund the payments I was refusing to make. So I told them to cancel, and they still weaseled out of it. They took my request to cancel as only a request to cancel one of the provisions, not the whole thing. When I finally got it fully cancelled, they still weren't done! The next problem was getting my remaining balance back. And that's how I ended up with the stock. It was like trying to quit one of those excessively clingy ISPs such as AoL.
I do not like insurers. Health insurers don't have your back when the medical provider overcharges. Auto and home insurers are prone to trying 50% rate increases, and slipping in more coverage every year. If you do dare to actually use the insurance, you will be flagged as high risk, and your rates will go up. It's universal too, can't avoid the flag by changing to a different insurer. Then there are those extended warranty scams. They won't take no for an answer. So I don't shop at stores that try to drag out the checkout until I've agreed to buying one.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 08 2020, @05:20AM (2 children)
Auto and home insurers are prone to trying 50% rate increases
So far, I've done pretty well with Progressive. But yeah, it really pays to shop around because it seems like they start jacking up your rates after a while if you're too loyal.
So I don't shop at stores that try to drag out the checkout until I've agreed to buying one.
What stores are those?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday October 08 2020, @05:52AM (1 child)
Actually, most of those stores are bankrupt or have stopped pushing the extended warranties so hard. Best Buy did it, and nearly went out of business when customers quit them over that. Stopped it some years ago now. Highland, and Federated were both aggressive pushers of warranties, and they are long gone. CompUSA and Circuit City too. All consumer electronics retailers.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 08 2020, @07:21PM
Yeah, when you wrote that, I was trying to think of the last time I was in such a store, and it's been a very long time. I do remember it with Circuit Shitty and Worst Buy, but I haven't been in one of the latter stores in a while.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @07:51PM
There's a very big difference between "they'll get you for writing the wrong number down" to "didn't file any income taxes." If he was an authentic stable genius, he would have at least put a nominal $750 down.
Also, directing payments to you by way of other names and hiding your yachts and properties also goes WAY beyond the "this Form 1342-242 is too confusing!" error.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 06 2020, @08:57AM (8 children)
This guy is such a sad story. He did something right once. Since then, he can only do stupid. But, every time he starts to feel irrelevant, he has to do something even stupider so that he can feel relevant again. This time, it's, "Hey, I just won't file my tax returns!" DERP-A-DERP!! He didn't expat hard enough to get away with it though.
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:09AM
Just like ESR and Runaway, only Runaway never did anything, and not so much as went crazy as instead was stupid from birth. Poor Runaway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:21AM
He wouldn't be in trouble if he actually had no money.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:06AM
Stupid is as stupid does - it would seem to me that he has gotten the life of his choosing.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday October 06 2020, @01:14PM (2 children)
I'm not sure "sad" is exactly the right word: He spent a lot of time in Belize doing an "interesting" cocktail of drugs and banging teenage girls, and since 2012 has been a prime suspect in the murder of his neighbor (something he has never once contested in court, he keeps on attempting to flee jurisdictions to avoid facing the charge).
When you kill people, on purpose, you don't generally get much sympathy.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday October 07 2020, @06:16PM (1 child)
I'm not saying I'd be surprised if he did do it, but didn't he end up fleeing Belize because the local warlord who had been extorting him for $X00,000 "protection money" a year suddenly upped it to $2 million or something?
Because after that I would *totally* expect their court system to be fair and impartial as well, enough so to let them put me on trial for murder.
https://interviews.slashdot.org/story/14/04/06/2344201/interview-john-mcafee-answers-your-questions [slashdot.org]
I think the explanation I was looking for about the "protection money" is in this article, but I don't really want to read through the entire thing again right now:
https://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-john-mcafees-last-stand/ [wired.com]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday October 07 2020, @07:23PM
Nope, wasn't in that article. Apparently he did multiple AMAs on The Green Site.
https://features.slashdot.org/story/13/05/07/2017203/interview-john-mcafee-answers-your-questions [slashdot.org]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday October 06 2020, @02:57PM
I don't think not filing your tax returns for 4 years is exactly a spur-of-the-moment attention-grabbing ploy...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday October 06 2020, @08:31PM
Exhibit A to the argument that being super rich is more a matter of luck than it is intelligence or work ethic.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:27AM
Sigh... yet another one for whom the taxpayers will support the cost of woman underwear [twitter.com]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:10AM (10 children)
They come after you and ruin your life if you don't do as they say. Kind of like the mafia.
On the other hand - to be fair and balanced - fuck McAfee and all the other rich fucks who refuse to pay their fair share to the community like the rest of us.
On the third hand - to be even more fair and balanced - fuck the US government, because a sizeable portion of the money they extort from the population every year goes to ignoble or wasteful ends, instead of paying for useful things like social security, health care or education.
(Score: 2) by VacuumTube on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:25AM
"They come after you and ruin your life if you don't do as they say."
Yes, but it seems that this is only true if you take no effort at all to CYA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @12:21PM
Count it on tits instead of hands.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 06 2020, @02:02PM (5 children)
In other words, the ignoble, wasteful ends are just fine as long as it's social security, health care, and education. Thus, is the populace bribed.
Let's review the three items you've mentioned: 1) Social security - take money from poor, young people and their families to pay wealthier old people for voting for the above ignoble, wasteful ends for decades. And the program is out of balance. It either needs a bunch of fresh blood merely to continue for another generation or a substantial cutback in present and future benefits.
2) Health care - need I remind anyone that the US leads in health care costs? Well, a large part of that inflation is due to government action helping make health care affordable for everyone. I suppose sarcasm should be intended, but it's a classic case of unintended consequences.
3) Education - Let's implement a system that sucks more every year, but is great for teacher unions. And inflates the cost of college by at least a factor of three faster than normal inflation.
I agree that the US is spending vast sums on social security, health care, etc. But I don't agree that it's any better for us than the corporate handouts.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 06 2020, @03:34PM (4 children)
You seem to have mist that he had THREE hands. You are complaining about what was in the third hand.
If we sing a slaying song tonight, what tools will be used for the slaying?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @04:54PM (1 child)
Damn socialist medicine.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 06 2020, @07:10PM
Hydroxychloroquine.
If we sing a slaying song tonight, what tools will be used for the slaying?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 06 2020, @07:07PM (1 child)
Only an inevitable consequence of exposure to SoylentNews.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @08:00PM
Well, I can think of a quick and easy cure for that...
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Wednesday October 07 2020, @02:17AM (1 child)
On the other hand - to be fair and balanced - fuck McAfee and all the other rich fucks who refuse to pay their fair share to the community like the rest of us.
What "community"? Maybe I'm misinformed, but from my occasional reads about John McAfee, I don't think he's lived inside the USA for many years. So why should he pay his "fair share" into the American tax system if he doesn't even live here? (Again, I could be wrong here, but I don't think I am.) There's only 1 or 2 other countries in the world that expect you to pay taxes on your income just for being a citizen, no matter where you earned it. I have no trouble with McAfee dodging taxes if he's been living in Belize or wherever for the last 20 years. Being born in a country should not obligate you to pay taxes there (or possibly worse, have to file extremely complicated tax forms under threat of criminal prosecution) for the rest of your life if you leave that place.
However, if he has been out of the US for so long, and making a lot of money, I really have to ask: why didn't he simply renounce his citizenship many years ago to avoid this? That's usually what globe-trotting expats do to avoid dealing with the IRS when they don't expect to come back to the US. It can cost a lot for wealthy people to do (the IRS charges you a huge fee proportional to your assets I think), but for someone like McAfee, it'd be worth it to avoid entanglements like this one. For someone with that much wealth, it shouldn't be hard to buy citizenship in some other country.
On the third hand - to be even more fair and balanced - fuck the US government, because a sizeable portion of the money they extort from the population every year goes to ignoble or wasteful ends, instead of paying for useful things like social security, health care or education.
Well this isn't the fault of the government, this is the fault of the people, who elected the government. The people don't want good education or better healthcare: if they did, they wouldn't keep voting for candidates who work against these goals. The people specifically voted for Congresspeople and a President who lowered taxes for wealthy people, and that's what they got. These same candidates also promised to "dismantle Obamacare", and they've been working on that too. (Not that Obamacare is the end-all-be-all of healthcare reform, it's woefully inadequate at addressing the numerous problems in our healthcare system. But those who want to repeal it don't have any plans to actually fix the other problems, they just rail against "socialized healthcare".)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2020, @11:21PM
Under 10 years ago, during his Belize murder escape drama. I may be misremembering, but you don't have to file taxes if you have been out of the US for at least 10 years. BUT if you at any time are active as a US citizen during that time, then you fall under US Tax law, which as annoying as it is, already allows you to file a foreign tax exemption thing to reduce the taxes you owe to the US based on the taxes you paid to foreign governments where you reside.
McAfee is an example of the Eat your cake and have it too crowd. Particularly the 'Libertarian' Americans who claim to want less government handouts and support, and pretend like they are sovereign citizens right up until they need some kind of government help, and don't recognize the hypocrisy of their actions.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday October 06 2020, @12:24PM (1 child)
I'm always surprised when McAfee makes the news and it isn't an obituary, considering the amount of drugs and weirdness he seems to be up to.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 06 2020, @11:10PM
Pretty much ditto Willie Nelson and a couple dozen has-been rock stars.
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @01:39PM (1 child)
How does he get into Europe as an American citizen, with the borders closed because of the china flu?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by looorg on Tuesday October 06 2020, @02:48PM
There are probably always exceptions for the rich and famous. After all if you private jet in or come by boat they probably won't stop you. Also a bunch of rich twats, such as himself, might be able to have dual citizenship. Then they can't deny him entry if one of them is a EU citizenship, there are a bunch of EU members (Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, France ..) that more or less sell you a citizenship if you are the right person or have the right amount of cash (somewhere in the range €250k-€1M) and some of them don't even require that you make it your residence.
(Score: 5, Funny) by tangomargarine on Tuesday October 06 2020, @02:55PM (1 child)
He has dubious business dealings, likes to pal around with foreign countries, ran for President, and is clearly crazy
I think we should elect him
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @03:26PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McAfee_2020_presidential_campaign [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @06:02PM
i hope he has them all killed.
(Score: 2) by black6host on Tuesday October 06 2020, @09:56PM (2 children)
I see your McAfee and raise you a Hans Reiser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser [wikipedia.org]
Which crazy computer person are you going to play next?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 06 2020, @10:15PM (1 child)
Richard Bathroom Stallman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman#Resignation_from_MIT_and_FSF [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday October 07 2020, @06:00PM
Yeah, because RMS *talking* about sexual abuse and not agreeing hard enough with the PC Police is comparable to a convicted murderer, and a guy who was a drug dealer and is accused of murder.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"