AFTER making a fortune with his early antivirus software, then being caught up in murder and drug cases in Belize, U.S. millionaire John McAfee has now added a new chapter to his tumultuous life story: from a yacht in Havana Harbor, he said he is running for the U.S. presidency.

This will not, he deadpans, be “an ordinary campaign.”

“I am wanted as a criminal by the government for which I am running for president,” McAfee, 73, said as he sat surrounded on his white yacht by an entourage of seven campaign aides and two enormous dogs.

McAfee’s immediate goal is to win the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, which advocates for free trade and a sharply reduced federal government.

He tried but failed in 2016, edged out for that party’s nomination by Gary Johnson, who went on to win just over 3 percent of the vote in the general election.

But McAfee has an unusual confession for a presidential candidate, “I don’t want to be president, I really don’t, nor could I be,” he said, puffing on a cigar.

“However, I do have a large following, and I will influence this next election.”

Since making a fortune with his eponymous antivirus software in the 1980s, McAfee has become a self-styled cryptocurrency guru, claiming to make US$2,000 a day. He has 1 million followers on Twitter.

(SD-Agencies)