8 ms·

There was a ruling today approving his extradition to the US. US officials were about to get him and he was facing extremely serious charges. That's a really i

There was a ruling today approving his extradition to the US. US officials were about to get him and he was facing extremely serious charges. That's a really important bit of context to keep in mind before jumping to ideas that some shadowy "they" had him killed.

TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
Though it is also highly notable that he publicly posted "I'm not going to kill myself, and if I do then I was probably assassinated" before his death.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  That was 2 years ago though. A lot in a person's life can change in just 2 years.
  - TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609346 He's also indicated much more recently that any "suicide" wouldn't be such.
    - colordrops 5y ago
      Very strange that you are being down voted.
    - babypuncher 5y ago
      The man has spent most of his life lying and cheating, why would anyone believe him when he says this?
    - dtech 5y ago
      That's also 9 months ago, "before his death" is a bit misleading.
      - ruined 5y ago
        and if he'd posted it yesterday, you'd be saying it's so soon that it's suspicious and he's obviously up to something. what's the optimal cooldown to post affirmations of life so that you believe they're true?
        dragontamer 5y ago
        I guess I discount the words of others pretty strongly, especially when it comes to conspiracy theories. Instead of trying to look for evidence in someone's tweets, how about we look at the facts on the ground. Such as: was he on suicide watch? Is this jail reliable? Is there a history of conspiracy and/or corruption in this jailhouse?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- nullsmack 5y ago
  And then he killed himself to set off moronic conspiracy theories as a final FU to the USA.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    Which is more believable, that he was murdered, or that he killed himself to troll people?
    - willis936 5y ago
      Truly the latter. He was not a well-adjusted, grounded individual. Also, what benefit is there to the US to kill him? They already won. Being able to kill people you have custody of is a weak message compared to "nowhere is safe from us".
      - colordrops 5y ago
        They don't want him in the press talking. And it sends a message.
        willis936 5y ago
        The message was already sent: you can't flee from the IRS once you are a target. Showing you're not afraid to kill enemies isn't nearly as chilling.
        watwut 5y ago
        Prisoners dont get to talk to press all that much. You are 100% of time under controll. And having him in prison for long sends even better message then maybe-murder-maybe-not.
        Gigamo 5y ago
        He was literally tweeting up until a few days ago. What makes you think he'd need the press to "unveil" anything "they" "don't want him talking about"?
paulpauper 5y ago
I have hard time believing this, either that he died or his motive. Tax evasion has one of the most lenient punishments of white collar crimes.
- bingidingi 5y ago
  He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life. Goes without saying but he was also an incredibly paranoid person.
  - paulpauper 5y ago
    I doubt it. charges tend to run concurrently. If he cooperated and paid what he could, likely he would serve no time.
  - CommieBobDole 5y ago
    Yeah, but federal sentencing guidelines are complicated and it's very unlikely he'd serve anything like the possible maximum sentence. Trial probably would have dragged on for a few years and he'd eventually plead to something and serve a couple of years in a minimum security prison. That said, he was 75, so I guess even a few years could potentially be a life sentence.
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    He was 75.8 years old at the time of his death and the average life expectancy for a male in the United States is 76.3.
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      That's not really how that works. The life expectancy of an American male who already attained aged 75 is 11 more years.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life Usually, without aggravating circumstances, federal sentences would run concurrently, though thr multiplicity might push them up within the range permitted. So, lots of nonviolent up to 5 years per count crimes with no particular extreme factors likely adds up to...about 5 years. Which at his age might still be a sizable fraction of his life, and he wouldn't be the first person to act based on an unrealistic estimate based on what is theoretically possible rather than likely.
fastball 5y ago
Unless McAfee has dirt on you, and getting extradited to the US with serious crimes against him means a high likelihood of him turning state's witness.
- jahewson 5y ago
  He’s not exactly going to appear credible in court.
  - fastball 5y ago
    When I say dirt I don't mean hearsay. I mean physical evidence.
ufmace 5y ago
The timing does make me suspicious. I'm generally willing to believe he was "suicided" by some shadowy conspiracy. But if that's what happened, why would they do it on the day his extradition was approved? If our secret ninja assassins wanted to take him out because he Knew Too Much or whatever, they could do that any old time. Why do it on the day his extradition was approved instead of some random day 6 months ago or something. On the other hand, it seems much more reasonable that a man whose extradition to the US to face Federal Criminal charges was just approved might suddenly decide to kill himself rather than deal with that. Unless of course the Secret Ninja Assassins knew that and decided to kill him today to make it look less suspicious. But then we're really getting into the weeds of conspiracy, where any crazy thing we could dream up might have happened.
- bronzeage 5y ago
  You literally answered it yourself: you find the suicide more believable today. If you find it more believable today, and their motivation is obscuring the murder, this is the perfect timing actually.
- dontblink 5y ago
  Or they could only get too him in a Spanish prison and they ran out of time.
  - Mirioron 5y ago
    Wouldn't be unusual for the US. Gitmo is specifically not on US soil to avoid dealing with US laws.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > Gitmo is specifically not on US soil to avoid dealing with US laws. “Camp Delta at Gitmo is used...” is more accurate here than “Gitmo is specifically not on US soil...”; Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950) was not a motivating factor in securing the lease at Guatanamo Bay (in 1903) but was a factor in siting the temporary (Camp X-Ray) and later permanent (Camp Delta) detention facilities for War on Terror detainees there.

TheAdamAndChe 5y ago

Though it is also highly notable that he publicly posted "I'm not going to kill myself, and if I do then I was probably assassinated" before his death.

dragontamer 5y ago
That was 2 years ago though. A lot in a person's life can change in just 2 years.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609346 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609346 He's also indicated much more recently that any "suicide" wouldn't be such.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    Very strange that you are being down voted.
  - babypuncher 5y ago
    The man has spent most of his life lying and cheating, why would anyone believe him when he says this?
  - dtech 5y ago
    That's also 9 months ago, "before his death" is a bit misleading.
    - ruined 5y ago
      and if he'd posted it yesterday, you'd be saying it's so soon that it's suspicious and he's obviously up to something. what's the optimal cooldown to post affirmations of life so that you believe they're true?
      - dragontamer 5y ago
        I guess I discount the words of others pretty strongly, especially when it comes to conspiracy theories. Instead of trying to look for evidence in someone's tweets, how about we look at the facts on the ground. Such as: was he on suicide watch? Is this jail reliable? Is there a history of conspiracy and/or corruption in this jailhouse?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
nullsmack 5y ago
And then he killed himself to set off moronic conspiracy theories as a final FU to the USA.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Which is more believable, that he was murdered, or that he killed himself to troll people?
  - willis936 5y ago
    Truly the latter. He was not a well-adjusted, grounded individual. Also, what benefit is there to the US to kill him? They already won. Being able to kill people you have custody of is a weak message compared to "nowhere is safe from us".
    - colordrops 5y ago
      They don't want him in the press talking. And it sends a message.
      - willis936 5y ago
        The message was already sent: you can't flee from the IRS once you are a target. Showing you're not afraid to kill enemies isn't nearly as chilling.
      - watwut 5y ago
        Prisoners dont get to talk to press all that much. You are 100% of time under controll. And having him in prison for long sends even better message then maybe-murder-maybe-not.
      - Gigamo 5y ago
        He was literally tweeting up until a few days ago. What makes you think he'd need the press to "unveil" anything "they" "don't want him talking about"?

paulpauper 5y ago

I have hard time believing this, either that he died or his motive. Tax evasion has one of the most lenient punishments of white collar crimes.

bingidingi 5y ago
He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life. Goes without saying but he was also an incredibly paranoid person.
- paulpauper 5y ago
  I doubt it. charges tend to run concurrently. If he cooperated and paid what he could, likely he would serve no time.
- CommieBobDole 5y ago
  Yeah, but federal sentencing guidelines are complicated and it's very unlikely he'd serve anything like the possible maximum sentence. Trial probably would have dragged on for a few years and he'd eventually plead to something and serve a couple of years in a minimum security prison. That said, he was 75, so I guess even a few years could potentially be a life sentence.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  He was 75.8 years old at the time of his death and the average life expectancy for a male in the United States is 76.3.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    That's not really how that works. The life expectancy of an American male who already attained aged 75 is 11 more years.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > He had enough charges lined up (up to 5 years for every count, IIRC) that he would likely be imprisoned for life Usually, without aggravating circumstances, federal sentences would run concurrently, though thr multiplicity might push them up within the range permitted. So, lots of nonviolent up to 5 years per count crimes with no particular extreme factors likely adds up to...about 5 years. Which at his age might still be a sizable fraction of his life, and he wouldn't be the first person to act based on an unrealistic estimate based on what is theoretically possible rather than likely.

fastball 5y ago

Unless McAfee has dirt on you, and getting extradited to the US with serious crimes against him means a high likelihood of him turning state's witness.

jahewson 5y ago
He’s not exactly going to appear credible in court.
- fastball 5y ago
  When I say dirt I don't mean hearsay. I mean physical evidence.

ufmace 5y ago

The timing does make me suspicious. I'm generally willing to believe he was "suicided" by some shadowy conspiracy. But if that's what happened, why would they do it on the day his extradition was approved? If our secret ninja assassins wanted to take him out because he Knew Too Much or whatever, they could do that any old time. Why do it on the day his extradition was approved instead of some random day 6 months ago or something. On the other hand, it seems much more reasonable that a man whose extradition to the US to face Federal Criminal charges was just approved might suddenly decide to kill himself rather than deal with that. Unless of course the Secret Ninja Assassins knew that and decided to kill him today to make it look less suspicious. But then we're really getting into the weeds of conspiracy, where any crazy thing we could dream up might have happened.

bronzeage 5y ago
You literally answered it yourself: you find the suicide more believable today. If you find it more believable today, and their motivation is obscuring the murder, this is the perfect timing actually.
dontblink 5y ago
Or they could only get too him in a Spanish prison and they ran out of time.
- Mirioron 5y ago
  Wouldn't be unusual for the US. Gitmo is specifically not on US soil to avoid dealing with US laws.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > Gitmo is specifically not on US soil to avoid dealing with US laws. “Camp Delta at Gitmo is used...” is more accurate here than “Gitmo is specifically not on US soil...”; Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950) was not a motivating factor in securing the lease at Guatanamo Bay (in 1903) but was a factor in siting the temporary (Camp X-Ray) and later permanent (Camp Delta) detention facilities for War on Terror detainees there.