Millionaire software tycoon John McAfee, currently in a Guatemalan detention center where he faces extradition to Belize in connection with a murder, has sold the rights to his life story to a Canadian production company.
Tentatively titled "Running in the Background: The True story of John McAfee," the film will document the recent life of the 67-year-old, famous for developing the McAfee Antivirus software.
"We are very excited about working with John McAfee, on this initiative," said François Garcia, CEO and co-founder of Montreal-based Impact Future Media in a statement on the production company's website. "Mr McAfee has entrusted us with his life story, and that is a responsibility we take very seriously. We will work tirelessly to make certain that his story is shared with the proper industry partners."
McAfee has been at the center of some bizarre series of events, documented on his blog, since November when his neighbor in Belize, Gregory Faull, was found shot dead. The software tycoon, who is said to have had a quarrel with Faull over his dogs, went on the run and eventually crossed the border illegally into Guatemala.
He immediately sought political asylum in the country, arguing that the reason police are after him in Belize is because he refused to give $2 million to the ruling party in the country. But Guatemalan authorities have so far denied him asylum and McAfee's lawyers are busy trying to prevent his return to Belize.
McAfee parted ways with the software company he founded in 1994. In 2010 he moved to Belize where he's been running QuorumEx, a new venture in the field of bacterial quorum sensing.
However, in that time, he is said to have squandered the vast fortune he'd made in the antivirus industry. A 2009 New York Times article suggested that from its peak of $100 million, McAfee's wealth had dwindled to only $4 million.
It is unclear how much the TV production company paid for the rights to his story, but selling the rights could prove a shrewd move as he plugs the gap in his finances and pays the lawyers who are working overtime to secure his freedom.
Alongside the planned TV movie, McAfee's friend, cartoonist Chad Essley, is in the process of creating a graphic novel of the fugitive's life via his CartoonMonkey Studio. In a statement McAfee thanked both the Montreal production company and CartoonMonkey Studio.
"My most heartfelt thank you goes to Impact Future Media and CartoonMonkey Studio," stated John McAfee. "Their dedication to the truth is very uncommon in the world we live in today. I am now, and will always be grateful to their organizations."
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