Not a dull day in the life of a cryptocurrency trader. While most of us have their days spiced up by fear of losing funds or getting taxed to hell and back, John McAfee has always had an extra flavor about everything he ever did or faced, including his fears. Knowing him as an anti-government maverick that founded and brought up one of the biggest digital security companies in the world before becoming a renegade of sorts and an avid advocate for crypto, the news that McAfee is going underground as a result of SEC wanting to “destroy a revolution by making an example out of him” really don’t come as a surprise to many people.
A tweet posted on McAfee’s official Twitter account on May 15th said:
“I am underground. This story by Rob Loggia explains all. I am the most vocal and angry opponent of the SEC. They are striking back with subpoenas. If I am silenced, it is the movement that suffers. I cannot allow this. My team will be my voice. Stay safe.”
The mentioned post by Mr. Loggia can be seen here and goes into details about why McAfee suspects that someone is after him. Initially the post describes the McAfee residence, apparently a very secure place with armed guards, watch dogs, security devices and surveillance cameras placed all over the property and the house.
The post follows up by explaining how, in recent days, Mr. McAfee and his security posse discovered various traces of infiltrators looking to break into his complex. Apparently, a next-door property with absentee owners, that offers an excellent view of McAfee’s property, has been seeing signs of unidentified movement. After investigating the property, security team confirmed their doubts that someone was indeed scuffling about:
“McAfee and his security professional checked each of these locations and found signs of a recent human presence. Trampled down grass, leaves and sticks snapped, a pristine Snickers candy bar wrapper, and exposed tree roots with fresh abrasions,”, from Mr. Loggia’s article.
One of McAfee’s security professionals spoke to Mr.Loggia about this and said:
“All of my training combined with what I observed convinces me that a person or persons had occupied several spots in the recent past.” Aside from the view of McAfee’s house, these spots offer no amenity that would justify anyone occupying them at all. There is literally nothing else to do or look at. The only reason for someone to take up such a position would be to observe the McAfee residence without being seen themselves.”
Another important detail was the fact that the road leading to McAfee’s property is apparently a cul-de-sac; those are known for being quiet when it comes to traffic frequency. However, the traffic around this property was quite lively, even too lively, with people regularly driving through and around, with seemingly no clear intention or reason to be doing that. The security team tried to film these people and their license plates, but they would never manage to get close enough before the people would notice them and drive off “at unsafe speeds”. While the faces were never filmed, the plates certainly were.
A security mogul like McAfee had no trouble with tracing these down and in the process he discovered a lot of disturbing information. Most of the identities related to the plates were fake and even some of the plates were fake, meaning that someone didn’t want their identities to be known while driving near McAfee’s property. All of this implies that a concerted effort by a people with a lot of money and some pretty heavy connections is being run against McAfee, according to him and his closest collaborators.
While most of us reading this might think “McAfee has gone off his meds again”, it is important to note that this man has in the past spoken up a lot against SEC and has probably angered a lot of influential people in doing so. He has been especially vocal against this government agency and has made it clear that he feels they don’t have the authority to regulate crypto and that they are a relic of an old system that is about to be thrown down. So it would seem logical that they would react and try to stop him somehow from spreading “the truth” about them.
Just a couple of hours ago, things got even more interesting. McAfee’s Twitter team (which will be in charge of communicating through his profile while he is in lock-down) posted a video titled “JOHN MCAFEE GOES UNDERGROUND” on a YouTube channel called Vacant Minds Media. The video showed a glimpse of McAfee’s armored motorcade and had the chased man himself imply that SEC could go after him and kill him. Just minutes later, another video titled “JOHN MCAFEE RISKS FELONY TO REVEAL SEC CORRUPTION” came up, in which McAfee confirmed that he recently received subpoenas from SEC that were aimed at investigating activities that had nothing to do with him or his business ventures.
Finally, a third video titled “JOHN MCAFEE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST SEC FROM UNDERGROUND LOCATION” went into more detail about the subpoenas. The subpoena was served to McAfee while he was the head of MGT Capital Investments, a publicly traded company at the time. It was meant to investigate actions of a former company investor and not the company or Mr. McAfee himself. Per SEC rules, McAfee was forced to say publicly he was subpoenaed but he was forced to keep the details of the subpoena hidden. As a result of the announcement, the company was devalued, delisted from the NYSE and cost its investors millions of dollars.
Clearly Mr. McAfee feels this was a “hit job” designed to smear his public name and his business venture. He also feels that the SEC clearly didn’t act in the best interest of his shareholders in this case, even though protecting shareholders is one of the defining tasks of this agency. Finishing up the video, John McAfee announced that he will be giving a number of similar short addresses during the following days which should reveal why he went underground and “what is actually happening in this country of ours.”
These videos do bring out some heavy accusations against the US government Securities and Exchange Committee. McAfee slams this “corrupt organization which holds US businesses under its thumb” and is seemingly looking to keep exposing more of their malpractices to the general population in his future addresses. This clear lack of respect he is giving them and the “dirt” he is putting out against them could make one wonder if they would in fact be inclined to do something… extreme to stop him. Another thing worth noting is that McAfee would be the first one to know what it feels like to have an entire government going after you. While most of us would have a hard time in comprehending McAfee’s reality, it would seem strange that his wife, his highly-trained security detail and his closest friends all suffer from the same “delusional thoughts”. Ultimately, these might just be ramblings of an old man struggling with dementia and cocaine riddled brain supported by the people who love him and are paid by him. Or they could be legitimate evidence that SEC is corrupt and doesn’t want cryptocurrency or crypto related people to succeed without SEC getting a slice of the pie as well. In the true manner of decentralization, it is up to you to decide which one is true.
