According to recent media revelations, Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, an early investor in Musk’s SpaceX, and known as the “Godfather of Silicon Valley Venture Capital,” actually has an unknown identity as an informant for the FBI. According to reports, in the summer of 2021, Thiel began providing information as a "confidential human source" (CHS) to Jonathan Buma, an FBI agent based in Los Angeles who specializes in investigating political corruption and foreign influence campaigns.


Charles Johnson is a long-time associate of Thiel and a notorious figure in the far-right movement that Thiel funded for a decade. According to what he told the media, he introduced Till to Boomer and helped him become an informant.

A source with knowledge of Thiel's relationship with the FBI confirmed Johnson's account, describing Johnson as an intermediary between Thiel and Boomer. Another source also confirmed that the FBI has officially added Thiel to its list of registered informants.

The FBI maintains a vast network of informants to monitor organized crime, terrorist threats, extremist groups, and other criminal and intelligence targets. According to the FBI's Confidential Human Resources Policy Guide, these informants were not just casual whistleblowers.

The guidance states that these so-called "confidential human resources" develop a relationship with the FBI "that will forever impact the person's life." "[They] are either an 'FBI informant' or a 'former FBI informant,' and in turn, his or her actions or misconduct will reflect back on the FBI." Therefore, the process of recruiting and maintaining these resources is highly regulated and requires multiple layers of approval. According to the policy, only those who can provide "valuable information... on a recurring basis" can obtain "Confidential Human Resources" (CHS) status.

As a CHS, Thiel was assigned a code name and an internal serial number to track his reports. The information he passed on about foreign contacts and Silicon Valley conspiracies was scrutinized and "validated" by his case attorneys and their associates, or cross-checked with other sources.

Thiel holds German, American and New Zealand citizenship. As of last year, he was reportedly in the process of obtaining another passport from Malta. In 2016, he donated $1.25 million to Trump's campaign and supported him on stage at the Republican National Convention. After Trump's victory, Thiel also served on his transition team.

Johnson, an intermediary between Thiel and FBI agents, said he believed Thiel's reports to the FBI were largely limited to foreign contacts and attempts by foreign governments to infiltrate Silicon Valley.

Johnson said Thiel was instructed by the FBI not to report his interactions with former President Trump or other U.S. politicians.

Many of the politicians Thiel has funded — including Trump, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and former Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters — have repeatedly attacked the FBI and its leadership in public.

Some of Thiel's business interests relied on the FBI and other government agencies as potential sources of revenue. He holds a 10% stake in Silicon Valley big data company Palantir, which has sold more than $1 billion in software and related services to government agencies including the Pentagon, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), NSA and FBI. One financial analyst said a $250 million contract with the U.S. Army in September was further evidence that Palantir is essentially a "government services provider."

Thiel also invested in spyware company Bolden, which has positioned itself as a U.S. competitor to Israel's NSO Group. NSO's products have been purchased and tested by the FBI.

It's unclear whether Thiel remains a "confidential human resource" for the FBI. Johnson said he believed the relationship had broken down but declined to give details.