Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, and franc commentator on all issues related to the “Antichrist” – seems at least 2,200 times in latest batch of files released by Justice Department involving convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
This series of documents demonstrates how Epstein managed to maintain a vast network of wealthy and influential figures in Silicon Valley. A number of them, including Thiel, continued to interact with Epstein even after his 2008 guilty plea to charges of soliciting prostitution and recruiting minors to engage in prostitution.
The new records show Thiel met with Epstein multiple times between 2014 and 2017. “What are you doing on Friday?” Thiel wrote to Epstein on April 5, 2016. “Should we try it for lunch? Most of the communication between the two men in the data dump involves planning meals, calls, and meetings between them. Thiel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED.
A piece of correspondence stands out for its particularly bizarre character. On February 3, 2016, Thiel’s former chief of staff and senior executive assistant, Alisa Bekins, sent an email with the subject line “Meeting – February 4 – 9:30 a.m. – Peter Thiel’s Dietary Restrictions – CONFIDENTIAL.” The original recipient of the email is redacted, but it was later forwarded directly to Epstein.
The content of the message is also redacted in at least one version of the email chain posted online Friday by the Justice Department. However, two other files from what appears to be the same set of messages, less information has been redacted.
In an email, Bekins listed about two dozen approved types of sushi and animal proteins, 14 approved vegetables and no approved fruits for Thiel to eat. “Fresh herbs” and “olive oil” were allowed, but ketchup, mayonnaise and soy sauce should be avoided. Only one actual meal was explicitly described: “egg whites or greens/salad with some form of protein,” such as steak, which Bekins Understood “in case they have breakfast.” It is unclear whether the February 4 meeting ultimately took place; other the emails indicate Thiel got stuck in traffic on his way to meet Epstein that day.
According to a recording of an undated conversation between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak which was also part of the files released by the DOJ on Friday, Epstein told Barak that he hoped to meet with Thiel the following week. He added that he knew of Thiel’s company Palantir, but he started spelling it out loud to Barak as “Pallentier.” Epstein speculated that Thiel might place Barak on Palantir’s board of directors, although there is no evidence that this happened.
“I’ve never met Peter Thiel, and everyone says he jumps around and acts really weird, like he’s on drugs,” Epstein said at one point in the audio recording, referring to Thiel. The former prime minister expressed agreement with Epstein’s assessment.
In 2015 and 2016, Epstein put $40 million in two funds managed by one of Thiel’s investment firms, Valar Ventures, according to the New York Times. Epstein and Thiel continued to communicate and were discussing meeting as recently as January 2019according to files released by the DOJ. Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell in August of that year.
Below are Thiel’s dietary restrictions, as outlined in the February 2016 email. (The following list has been lightly reformatted for clarity.)
