As highlighted this morning by Insider, Peter Thiel employee and Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters is “more than seven weeks late in filing a federally mandated personal financial disclosure” — documents that “could help illuminate any financial relationships Masters has with Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor, PayPal founder, and Republican megadonor for whom Masters works.”
In addition to being Masters’ boss, Thiel has donated at least $10 million to Saving Arizona PAC, a Virginia-based super PAC solely dedicated to supporting Masters’ Senate run. According to FEC independent expenditure filings submitted last week, that group has already spent at least $744,775 trying to win the GOP Senate primary for Masters.
On top of that, Thiel has offered himself up as a fundraising tool for Masters’ campaign, and hosted a high-dollar fundraiser for Masters in Los Angeles just last week.
All of which indicates that “If Masters became a Senator then Thiel would have an immense level of influence over him,” according to the Campaign Legal Center’s Brendan Fischer.
By Kimberly Leonard | October 4, 2021
Key Points:
- “Senate candidate Blake Masters […] is more than seven weeks late in filing a federally mandated personal financial disclosure, Insider has learned.”
- “The missing financial documents could help illuminate any financial relationships Masters has with Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor, PayPal founder, and Republican megadonor for whom Masters works.”
- “Masters acknowledged in a phone call with Insider on September 15 that he was aware of his tardy financial-disclosure documents, which are set to be posted publicly once he submits them.”
- “Masters is the chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation. Thiel has already donated $10 million to Saving America, a pro-Masters super PAC that may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money.”
- “But two weeks have passed since that time and Masters still hasn’t filed his disclosure. He texted Insider on Friday that […] he intended to file the documents on Friday or Saturday, but as of Monday the disclosures still weren’t posted.”
- “For Masters specifically, a certified financial-disclosure document could show how much he is paid at Thiel Capital and the foundation. It could also show whether he is financially tied to any of Thiel’s other companies, such as Palantir Technologies, a data-analytics and surveillance firm and federal-government contractor that’s spent millions of dollars over the years lobbying the federal government, according to federal records.”
Read the full report here.
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Published: Oct 4, 2021