Musk's fondness for sex and drugs made him prime Russian target in blackmail plot: Ex-FBI
A former FBI agent recently admitted that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have been prime Russian targets since the Ukraine conflict started. Ex-Counterintelligence Special Agent Jonathan Buma further added that intelligence was gathered on the two men to be used as blackmail later.
Burma was speaking on a documentary released by German Television Broadcaster ZDF. He said that Musk's susceptibility to women, sex, and drugs made him a prime Russian target. The billionaire's apparent fondness for the desert rave scene Burning Man, adult entertainment and gambling was a 'possible entry point' for agents to reach him, he explained.
'Musk's susceptibility to promiscuous women and drug use, particularly ketamine… were seen by Russian intelligence as an opportunity for an agent to exploit,' Burma told the documentary makers.
The former FBI agent served 16 years as a counterintelligence officer for the FBI before being arrested in March and charged by federal prosecutors with one count of 'Disclosure of Confidential Information'. He was accused of sharing classified information with a publishing company. He posted a $100,000 bail.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in direct contact since at least 2022, when the conflict with Ukraine started.
Jonathan Burma added that Putin was behind the contact with Musk and Thiel. The agents would not have gotten involved in the blackmail plot had the Russian president not known about the action and approved it, he noted.
Burma, however, did not reveal his source.
Musk has had a complicated history with Ukraine. The Tesla founder initially supported Kyiv in its war with Russia by offering his Starlink satellite internet service free of charge to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He, however, later threatened to revoke the access.
In 2024, Elon Musk, along with President Donald Trump, questioned Ukraine's leadership. The 53-year-old currently serves as Trump's senior adviser and leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is running a cost-cutting operation across federal agencies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
30 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Musk vs Trump gets wild: Tax tantrums, Epstein shockers & meme wars erupt
What began as a high-profile alliance between two of the most powerful men in the world—US President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk—has publicly imploded, giving rise to a bitter feud that's playing out in real time on social media, and flooding the internet with viral memes. The fallout began shortly after Musk quit the Trump admin's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) gig when he roasted Trump's new tax bill on X as a 'disgusting abomination.' 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' Musk posted on X. The legislation, which has already cleared the House and is being debated in the Senate, includes sweeping cuts to green energy subsidies—many of which benefit Musk-owned ventures like Tesla and SpaceX. From bromance to blow-up Trump did not take Musk's criticism lightly. In a retaliatory post on Truth Social, the President accused Musk of hypocrisy and threatened to cut off federal contracts to Musk's companies. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Trump wrote. He went on to say, 'I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted [that he knew for months I was going to do!], and he just went CRAZY!' The feud quickly escalated into a full-blown social media war, with Musk making explosive allegations. He posted: 'Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' Musk even shared a throwback video of Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein, further inflaming the controversy. Social media turns into meme central As the two billionaires traded barbs, users across social platforms couldn't get enough. X became a battleground not only for their feud, but also for meme-makers who had a field day. One user posted, 'It's great that Musk vs Trump is free-to-air and not pay-per-view, so we can all enjoy it. #MuskVsTrump'. It's great that Musk Vs Trump is free-to-air and not pay-per-view, so we can all enjoy it. #MuskVsTrump — Joe (@MrJoeGooch) June 5, 2025 Another called it a 'blockbuster crossover' comparing it to the Drake vs Kendrick Lamar rap feud and Mean Girls teen drama. One viral meme showed a Tesla car ablaze in front of Trump Plaza, while another repurposed a scene from The Simpsons to mock the drama. I'll leave this here… #muskvstrump — Nunzio Presta (@nunziopresta) June 5, 2025 The current state of global Geopolitics. #muskvstrump — Tull McAdoo (@TullMcAdoo) June 5, 2025 A third user posted, 'Russia, China, and North Korea watching Musk and Trump go at it like…' Simpsons Elon musk vs Donald trump monkey fight. — Meme For Programmers || Mathematicians (@MathRestaurant) June 5, 2025 Seems like a great time to pull out this meme again ???? #muskvstrump — Deb???? ???????? (@intjgamergirl) June 5, 2025 OK, we need a Trump/Musk meme thread — Pepel Klaasa (@pepel_klaasa) June 5, 2025
Time of India
32 minutes ago
- Time of India
Elon Musk's Starlink faced Tim Cook's rejection; now it delivers internet directly to iPhones
In a dramatic turn of events, Elon Musk 's Starlink satellite service, once firmly rejected by Apple, has now become an unexpected ally for the tech giant's iPhones. Back in 2022, Musk reportedly offered Apple a $5 billion deal to integrate Starlink into their devices, a proposal CEO Tim Cook declined. Years later, Apple users are accessing Starlink's 'Direct to Cell' network via T-Mobile , giving iPhones satellite-powered connectivity that Apple initially tried to avoid. What started as a threat has turned into quiet reliance, highlighting the complex power dynamics between two of the biggest names in tech. Elon Musk's $5 billion ultimatum to Tim Cook In 2022, Musk delivered a bold offer. Either Apple would invest $5 billion into Starlink integration or face Starlink as a direct competitor. The call to Tim Cook was not just a business pitch, it was an ultimatum. Musk gave Apple 72 hours to decide. When Cook declined, Musk quickly launched his own plan to dominate satellite-based mobile connectivity. Apple's quiet abandonment of its own satellite dream Years before Musk's proposal, Apple had its own satellite ambitions under Project Eagle, a collaboration with Boeing to create a proprietary internet service. However, concerns over regulatory hurdles and upsetting telecom partners such as AT&T and Verizon caused the project to be shelved. Apple instead chose a safer route by partnering with Globalstar for a limited SOS satellite feature. Musk's Starlink moves ahead While Apple stepped back, Musk advanced. Just weeks before the iPhone 14 launch, Musk announced a partnership with T-Mobile to bring Starlink's 'Direct to Cell' service to life. This meant users could access mobile internet from anywhere on Earth, even remote mountains and oceans, without requiring any special hardware. Irony in the sky: iPhones now use Starlink Despite rejecting Musk's offer, Apple devices can now access Starlink through T-Mobile's network. The very satellite system Apple dismissed is now helping power iPhones in remote locations. Some observers have called this 'revenge from orbit,' showing how tech rivalries can circle back in unexpected ways. Strategic caution or missed opportunity? Apple's decision remains a topic of debate in the tech industry. Some view Cook's move as strategic caution, avoiding dependence on a volatile innovator like Musk. Others see it as a missed opportunity to lead in satellite connectivity. Either way, the skies now belong to Starlink, and iPhones are connected to it whether Apple planned it or not.
Mint
37 minutes ago
- Mint
World shares mixed ahead of Fridays US jobs report
Tokyo, World shares were mixed on Friday ahead of an update on the US job market that will offer insights into how the economy is faring. The future for the S and P 500 gained 0.4 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 per cent. Germany's DAX lost 0.3 per cent to 24,263.21, while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1 per cent lower, to 7,786.23. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2 per cent higher to 8,831.87. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5 per cent to 37,741.61, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.5 per cent to 2,812.05. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent to 23,859.52 and the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1 per cent higher, to 3,385.36. Australia's S and P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 per cent to 8,515.70. India's Sensex gained 0.9 per cent after the Reserve Bank cut its key interest rate by a half a percentage point to 5.50 per cent. On Thursday, the S and P 500 fell 0.5 per cent for its first drop in four days. After sprinting through May and rallying within a couple good days' worth of gains of its all-time high, the index at the centre of many 401 accounts has lost momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.8 per cent. The US Labor Department is due to report how many more jobs US employers created than destroyed during May. The expectation on Wall Street is for a slowdown in hiring from April. A resilient job market has been one of the linchpins that's propped up the US economy, and the worry is that all the uncertainty created by President Donald Trump's on-and-off tariffs could push businesses to freeze their hiring. A report on Thursday said more US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. The number remains relatively low compared with history, but it still hit its highest level in eight months. The data came as Procter and Gamble, the giant behind such brands as Pampers diapers and Cascade dish detergent, said it will cut up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years. Its stock fell 1.9 per cent. The day's heaviest weight on the market was Tesla, which tumbled 14.3 per cent. It's lost nearly 30 per cent of its value so far this year as CEO Elon Musk's relationship with Trump sours amid a disagreement over the president's signature bill of tax cuts and spending. In after-hours trading Tesla gained 0.8 per cent. Brown-Forman, the company behind Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve, dropped 17.9 per cent for its worst day since it began trading in 1972. Hopes that Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries have been among the main reasons the S and P 500 has rallied back so furiously since dropping roughly 20 per cent from its record two months ago. It's now back within 3.3 per cent of its all-time high. Trump boosted such hopes Thursday after saying he had 'a very good phone call' with China's leader, Xi Jinping, about trade and that 'their respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined'. It's an easing of tensions after the world's two largest economies had earlier accused each other of violating the agreement that had paused their stiff tariffs against each other, which threatened to drag the economy into a recession. Markets took the latest signs of detente with Beijing coolly, given that nothing is assured in Trump's on-and-off rollout of tariffs. Among Wall Street's winners was MongoDB, which jumped 12.8 per cent after the database company likewise delivered a stronger profit than analysts expected. Circle Internet Group, the US-based issuer of one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, surged 168.5 per cent in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.40 per cent, up from 4.37 per cent late Wednesday after tumbling from 4.46 per cent the day before. Yields dropped so sharply on Wednesday as expectations built that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates later this year to prop up an economy potentially weakened by tariffs. In other dealings early Friday, US benchmark crude oil lost 40 cents to USD 63.03 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 34 cents to USD 65.06 per barrel. The US dollar rose to 143.91 Japanese yen from 143.49 yen. The euro fell to USD 1.1430 from USD 1.1448. PY PY This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
