Peter Thiel was an FBI informant: report

Thiel, 56, who co-founded PayPal, reportedly became a "confidential human source" for the FBI in the summer of 2021, per Insider. The allegations came from Charles Johnson, a tech investor and longtime associate of Thiel who spoke with the outlet. Insider writes that Johnson had stepped forward with his expose because of perceived bad decisions by Thie's Founders Fund, among other things.

Confidential Human Sources (CHS) is defined by FBI policy as a person who provides "valuable information on a recurring basis" to the agency. The guide states that the source enters "into a relationship with the FBI, and that relationship will forever affect the life of that individual. [They] will be either an 'FBI source' or a 'former FBI source' and, in turn, his or her conduct or misconduct will reflect upon the FBI."

Thiel reportedly became an informant to Johnathan Buma, a Los Angeles-based FBI agent who specializes in investigating political corruption and foreign influence campaigns. Johnson was the one to recruit Thiel to be an informant, orchestrating a meeting between Thiel and Buma, the outlet reports.

Johnson also claimed that he was an FBI informant who worked with Buma.

A source confirmed Johnson's account of events and Business Insider said it was able to confirm that the FBI added Thiel to a formal roster of registered informants through an additional source. A person close to Thiel also told the outlet that the billionaire had spoken to Buma on multiple occasions and alleged that any information Thiel had given to Buma was part of the billionaire distancing himself from past GOP campaigns, such as former President Donald Trump, whom Thiel backed in 2016 with a $1.25 million donation.

Johnson told the outlet that Thiel is believed to have provided insight into foreign contacts and any of their attempts to infiltrate Silicon Valley. The outlet reports that this theory was backed up by Thiel's calls for the government agency to investigate Google's ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Johnson also claimed that the FBI instructed Thiel not to report interactions he might be having with Donald Trump or other US politicians.

Peter Thiel has helped bankroll additional GOP campaigns including Senator JD Vance of Ohio and former GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters of Arizona. Thiel has reportedly contributed $15 million to affiliated political action committees and campaigns.

According to the outlet, Thiel is involved with multiple companies that have done business with the FBI and his business interests rely on government agencies.

Thiel owns 10 percent of Palantir, a data company that has supplied the federal government, including the Pentagon, CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency, with software and related services worth over $1 billion. In September, Planatir signed a $250 million contract with the US Army. A financial analyst said that the company is essentially a "government service provider."

According to a Forbes article from last year, Thiel also financially supported Boldend, a spyware startup that presents itself as an American rival to the Israeli NSO Group, a cyber-intelligence firm. The FBI bought and tested products made by NSO.

In August, FBI agent Buma became a whistleblower and testified before Congress that his investigation into Rudy Guiliani and whether or not he had been compromised by a Russian agent was thwarted by the Trump administration.

During testimony, Buma claimed that the FBI had closed its relationship with its most valuable informant, who acted under the code name "Genius." This informant provided information about "far-right" figures and their plans to attack the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That informant was allegedly revealed to be Johnson.

Johnson told the outlet that he decided to step forward in order to help Buma and his effort to transform how the FBI handles its informants.

Johnson claimed that he was revealing Thiel's CHS work as payback for what he believes to be poor decision-making on behalf of Thiel's venture capital company, Founders Fund. Johnson told the outlet he felt betrayed that Thiel did not invest in his own startup companies.

While it's unclear if Thiel is still an acting informant, Johnson told the outlet that he believes the relationship has been severed.