The life and mystery of technology millionaire John McAfee is the subject of a new documentary that hits a top streaming platform today. Here are the details and what viewers can expect.
The Documentary: The new documentary “Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee” debuts on the Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) streaming platform Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.
In the documentary, McAfee describes himself as “James Bond meets Scarface with a little Indiana Jones.”
The documentary will include details of McAfee’s early life but mainly center on his life after selling the McAfee antivirus company he founded. This includes spying on governments and individuals and the mysterious death of his neighbor in Belize.
“John told me that he created a software (that) enabled him to spy on anyone in the world. The CIA, FBI, the KGB, NSA, even the White House. Everyone,” ghostwriter Alex Cody Foster, who worked for McAfee, said in the documentary.
The trailer features McAfee admitting he had information on many people.
“I have not found a human being that did not have a secret,” McAfee said in the trailer.
The documentary brings to life the rumors of McAfee killing his neighbor over a dispute with pets and that he potentially killed his own father when he was a teenager and staged it to look like a suicide.
McAfee was later wanted by the U.S. government for admitting to not paying taxes. The software founder sold assets and fled the country.
McAfee was found dead in a Spanish prison cell in June 2021 at the age of 75. McAfee committed suicide according to reports, a move that came after it was revealed he would be extradited back to the U.S.
A fight over McAfee’s body by his daughter and ex-wife was a big news item after his death and could now be a big story after new revelations in the documentary.
Related Link: John McAfee's Associate Fined For ICO Pump And Dump Scams, Here's What The SEC Said
Why It’s Important: McAfee’s former partner Samantha Herrera claims in the documentary that McAfee faked his death and is alive and well in Texas.
“I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead,” Herrera alleges McAfee told her on the phone weeks after his reported death.
Others, including McAfee’s ex-wife Janice McAfee, are reluctant to believe that if McAfee faked his death he would be hiding out in the U.S., a country that was charging him with tax evasion.
McAfee remains a polarizing figure and his life story in the documentary could be entertaining for people who know portions of his story or people brand-new to the outrageous final years of his life.
McAfee’s company was sold to Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) for $7.7 billion in 2010. Intel formed a joint venture for the company later and McAfee was taken public again in 2020, only to be bought out by Advent for $14 billion in 2021.
The documentary could see strong viewership on Netflix given the notoriety of McAfee and the mystery now surrounding the potential faked death of the former technology mogul. McAfee was also a noted Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) bull during the later years of his life, which could see the cryptocurrency community tuning into the documentary.
Photo: Netflix poster, IMDb
