this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
PayPal co-founder, venture capitalist, Republican megadonor, and disputed vampire Peter Thiel may also have been an FBI informant — at least according to a new report from Insider.
Insider spoke to multiple people who claim Thiel became a “confidential human source” for a Los Angeles-based agent named Johnathan Buma — a term that indicates a long-running relationship with the FBI, allegedly beginning in 2021.
Holding longtime informant status would put Thiel at odds with parts of the Republican party, which has grown hostile to the FBI amid its investigations of Trump.
But Thiel has stepped back from politics during the 2024 US presidential election, reportedly because he felt that Republicans were focused on domestic culture wars instead of American economic competitiveness.
As Insider notes, Thiel has urged the FBI to investigate Google for Chinese government infiltration.
Passing the agency tips about foreign contacts would align neatly with his concerns about foreign influence in tech — and until he can hole up full time in a bunker in New Zealand, his deep Silicon Valley connections are likely worth cultivating by the FBI.
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