The Curious Billionaire Backing Glenn Greenwald

Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar is fronting the money that is now supporting Glenn Greenwald's journalistic efforts.

I am highly suspicious of Omidayr, he is far from an anti-government person. In fact. he appears very close to the elite government crowd.

In a new New York Magazine profile of Omidyar, we learn. He is "on collegial terms with the Clintons" and has been a partner in their charity work, and:

One evening, in conjunction with CGI [The Clinton Global Initiative] Pierre Omidayr threw a reception across the street...His guests sipping wine inside a vaulted glass atrium, represented foundations, banks, governments and NGOs. tech start-ups and McKinsey. Omidyar's foundation had just unveiled a $200 million Global Innovation Fund, established in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The announcement was timed to coincide with President Obama's speech to the conference that afternoon on nurturing civil society.

There are multiple tidbits of information here, anyone one of which would cause me to raise an eyebrow:

"on collegial terms with the Clintons"
Throwing a reception in conjunction with CGI
Guests represented foundations, banks, governments, NGOs
A $200 million donation to USAID
Coordination with Obama

All this packed together has my dangerous character alert flashing and sounding an alarm. It is difficult to see how such an operator is going to promote anything good.

I continue to believe that Glenn Greenwald is the real thing, but I hope he watches carefully those who are trying to get close to him. He should really take the Omidyar money, keep a safe distance and be prepared to bail at any time.

Perhaps Greenwald knows this. In the profile Greenwald is quoted as saying, "To this day, I've never met Pierre in person."

-RW