Billionaire PayPal CEO Peter Thiel Exposed as an FBI Informant: Report
Tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel's connection to the FBI is revealed.
Oct. 19 2023, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel's past as an FBI informant has been exposed, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Republican megadonor Thiel, 56, who co-founded PayPal, became a "confidential human source" in the summer of 2021.
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal in 1998 and was the first outside investor in Facebook.
According to the Insider, Thiel was introduced to Los Angeles-based FBI agent Johnathan Buma, who specialized in foreign influence on campaigns and investigating political corruption, by his longtime associate, Charles Johnson.
Johnson, who's a far-right political activist, told the outlet in a statement that he helped recruit the billionaire by facilitating a meeting between Buma and Thiel.
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Thiel reportedly became a registered FBI informant in the summer of 2021.
A separate source with knowledge of Thiel's role as a "confidential human source," who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed Johnson's claims, telling the outlet that the far-right activist orchestrated the meeting.
An additional source verified that Thiel was added to the bureau's official roster of registered informants. Another said that Buma and Thiel occasionally communicated, though the insider was unable to confirm whether or not the PayPal CEO was an informant.
The insider elaborated that any information Thiel potentially provided Buma would have been related to the self-imposed distance he's gradually placed between himself and campaigns he once supported, like GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Thiel donated $1.25 million to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
Trump and MAGA Republicans have been critical of the FBI and its agents, going as far as calling for the agency to be defunded. A key component of the FBI's work is monitoring extremist groups, organized crime, terroristic threats, and other potentially harmful activities. In order to do so, the agency relies on confidential human sources.
According to the FBI's CHS policy guide, registered informants enter "into a relationship with the FBI, and that relationship will forever affect the life of that individual."
If an individual meets the strict CHS requirements, those selected are considered to be able to provide "valuable information" on a "reoccurring basis" to the bureau.
In recent years Thiel has distanced himself from Trump and the MAGA agenda.
Thiel currently holds multiple citizenships in Germany, the United States, and New Zealand. As of 2022, the tech mogul was seeking Malta citizenship.
Though he's distanced himself from Trump, Thiel donated a whopping $1.25 million to the ex-president's 2016 campaign and even introduced him at the Republican National Convention the same year.
When Trump defeated Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, Thiel served on his transition team.
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Johnson, who also claimed to be information for Buma, believed that Thiel's role as a CHS involved providing insight into foreign contacts and attempts to infiltrate Silicon Valley. This theory was backed up by Thiel's public calls for the bureau to investigate Chinese ties to Google.
Johnson further claimed that the bureau instructed Thiel to not report his interactions with Trump or other US politicians.
In addition to Trump, Thiel was linked to former Arizona senate candidate Blake Masters and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, whose affiliated political action committees and campaigns have received a total of $15 million in donations from the tech entrepreneur.
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