How to blow $70 million

[farmerEd]

I never get tired of reading these riches to rags stories...


Jennifer Sultan, millionaire tech pioneer, arrested for selling drugs and guns | Mail Online

 

[grasshopper]

Let us not forget John McAfee, had $100 million, was in jail in Belize in the spring, down to his last million or two.

McAfee founder booked on drug, weapons charges, report says | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

 

[farmerEd]

Let us not forget John McAfee, had $100 million, was in jail in Belize in the spring, down to his last million or two.

McAfee founder booked on drug, weapons charges, report says | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Had not hear about that

The Belize Gang Suppression Unit's press release declares that McAfee, 66, was there with his 17-year-old girlfriend .

Probably after him because of his good looks....

 

[marko]

"How to blow $70 million"...and here I was expecting to read about some shovel ready program!

Then I realized that it was 'million' and not 'billion'.

 

[grasshopper]

Had not hear about that


Probably after him because of his good looks....

John was a neighbor along with the Sky Gypsies, so we all follow the story you could not make up.

In 2002, he happened upon an in-flight magazine article about a class of lightweight aircraft called "trikes" -- essentially, hang gliders with engines. Intrigued, McAfee and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Jennifer Irwin, moved to Arizona for flight school. There they met a local man who had mastered the art of flying trikes very low, no more than a few feet off the ground, over the rugged desert of Arizona and New Mexico. McAfee had found his next calling.
Skimming the surface of the desert at 75 miles per hour is an inherently dangerous way to fly, but that only made it more addictive to McAfee. (He has, by his own estimation, crashed eight or nine ATVs and a similar number of Jet Skis.) He coined a term for the practice -- "aerotrekking" -- and began promoting it as a new national pastime. He bought a ranch in the New Mexico desert, added a second airstrip, and repurposed the place as a training camp and resort. Here he gathered a ragtag mob of a dozen or so fellow trike enthusiasts who called themselves Sky Gypsies; many got a Sky Gypsies tattoo that Irwin designed. To reinforce the remote ranch's appeal, he spiffed it up with a collection of vintage Airstream trailers, a fleet of classic cars, and a movie theater. It didn't make much sense as a business plan, but it was catnip to the media. The Wall Street Journal, Popular Mechanics, and National Geographic Adventure ran features on his operation.

Plagued by Lawsuits, McAfee Founder Hunts for Cures in Belize | Fast Company

 

[growing_older]

Don't necessarily believe that John McAfee has really blown through his wealth as is sometimes portrayed.

Suddenly, writes Fast Company, it doesn't seem like McAfee really lost all the cash he claims. Instead, the magazine theorizes, he's scared of a lawsuit over how he ran his last U.S. venture, a New Mexico "aerotrekking" company. The company flew its guests very close to the desert floor in a "trike," basically a hang glider with an engine attached. The hitch is that this is a very tricky and dangerous thing to do, and McAfee let his unqualified nephew offer flight instruction, according to a $5 million civil complaint. The nephew took a student into a dangerous canyon pass and both died on impact with a cliff face; a lawyer retained by the student's family filed the suit. (McAfee has speculated the accident was caused not by his newphew but the passenger, "who'd been ill before his visit," and had maybe "had a stroke or a heart attack and fallen onto the wires of the kite's wing.")

The lawyer: "I think [McAfee] is trying to liquidate all property that could be used to collect a judgment, so that it's all beyond the reach of execution in the United States."

McAfee: "A judgment in the States is not valid down here. And lawsuits in process in the United States have a difficult time in the collection stage."

Sure enough, Jeff Wise recently visited McAfee and has a fresh report on him in Fast Company , detailing the many ways he does not seem like an impoverished man, or even a man scraping by on $4 million: He spent $1.5 million on just the land for his home, $1 million on a patrol boat he donated to the Belizean coast guard, rents a $450,000 boat, spent $400,000 in greenhouses for his biotech venture, hired 35-40 employees and started and "gave away... a high-speed ferry company, an Internet-services company, a rickshaw company, a water-sports facility, and... an aerial-tour company." He's also building an airstrip for tourists and, by his own admission, handing out bribes like candy.

 

[Nords]

John was a neighbor along with the Sky Gypsies, so we all follow the story you could not make up.

A few years ago McAfee got a lot of press on Molokai for promising to do all sorts of good things for the island. (Sort of like what Ellison must be musing over for Lanai today.) At one point, though, he was accused of being a "virus". It did not end well, and he auctioned off his property for pennies on the dollar.
McAfee apologizes, says he can’t stop auction - Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor's Information - The Maui News
McAfee’s Molokai estate sells for $1.575 million « Molokainews's Blog

McAfee Estate, Molokai, Hawaii, $ 3,700,000 - YouTube

 

[Dawg52]

A few years ago McAfee got a lot of press on Molokai for promising to do all sorts of good things for the island. (Sort of like what Ellison must be musing over for Lanai today.) At one point, though, he was accused of being a "virus". It did not end well, and he auctioned off his property for pennies on the dollar.
McAfee apologizes, says he can’t stop auction - Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor's Information - The Maui News
McAfee’s Molokai estate sells for $1.575 million « Molokainews's Blog

McAfee Estate, Molokai, Hawaii, $ 3,700,000 - YouTube

Damn, someone got a deal on that estate. If I hadn't lost my billions on wild women and med's, I would have bought it for a vacation retreat.

 

[Nords]

Damn, someone got a deal on that estate. If I hadn't lost my billions on wild women and med's, I would have bought it for a vacation retreat.

The property would be the least of your worries...

A friend of ours makes quarterly shopping trips to Oahu and fills part of a container for shipping back to Molokai. Lots of that time (and money) is spent at Home Depot & grocery stores.

Even after 20+ years there she still feels like a newcomer. I have no idea why she stays.