John McAfee was broke at the time of his death after spending millions on a string of luxury villas and 'bizarre properties,' biographer says
- John McAfee was allegedly broke before his death, his former autobiographer told the Daily Mail.
- Mark Eglinton, a writer who collaborated with McAfee, said he spent millions on "bizarre" mansions.
- McAfee had been embroiled in financial and legal troubles leading up to his apparent suicide.
Antivirus software company founder John McAfee was reportedly broke when he died last month after blowing millions on luxury mansions located around the world, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
The British-American tycoon died by apparent suicide in a Spanish prison on June 23 while awaiting extradition to the US.
Mark Eglinton, a biographer who worked with McAfee on a book about his life, told the Mail that the tech mogul reportedly spent millions on luxury compounds in places including Belize, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee, and Texas.
Eglinton told the Mail that McAfee was unable to pay what he had requested in advance for the collaboration. The writer did not disclose how much money he had asked for, although the Mail reported it was "not a large amount."
"I don't doubt that if he could have helped he would have," Eglinton said, according to the Mail. "He said, 'I can't do it, my financial situation is worse than yours."'
The author, who said he spoke to the tech mogul for "countless hours" about his finances, claimed McAfee had an obsession with buying and building houses.
"He had his money in very safe investments, but he built houses, absolutely bizarre properties," Eglinton said, according to the Mail. "Some of them, he never slept a night in the property."
McAfee was reportedly hammered by the 2008 real estate crisis, which caused him to sell many of his properties at a loss.
One compound he had bought in Woodland Park, Colo, which was valued at more than $25 million, sold at auction for only $5.72 million in 2007, according to the Mail.
Eglinton also said that McAfee reportedly told him that the $100 million he got from selling his software security company, McAfee Associates, in 1994 "goes very quickly," the Mail reported.
McAfee had a history of financial and legal troubles. In October last year, he was arrested at the Barcelona airport on a warrant issued by prosecutors in Tennessee for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.
The US Department of Justice previously also charged McAfee twice, once with evading taxes from 2014 to 2018 and again for "fraudulent promotion to investors of cryptocurrencies."
McAfee was also accused of failing to disclose money he made from cryptocurrency and speaking fees, as well as selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.
Eglinton is publishing his book "No Domain: The John McAfee Tapes" in December as the sole author.