Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal in 1998 and the data-analytics company Palantir Technologies in 2003, where he has served as chairman. Thiel was Facebook’s first outside investor, making a $500,000 angel investment in 2004 for a 10.2% stake and joining the company’s board, where he served until February 2022. He also founded the venture capital firm Founders Fund in 2005 and co-founded a number of other investment vehicles, including Valar Ventures.

Thiel’s name appears among the figures documented in the 2026 releases of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. The emails released by the House Oversight Committee in 2026 showed that Valar Ventures — a venture firm Thiel co-founded — accepted $40 million from Epstein and that Thiel corresponded with Epstein for five years, with multiple scheduled meetings documented between 2014 and 2016. The Week, citing The New York Times, reported that Epstein “put $40 million into two funds managed by Valar Ventures, a New York firm that was cofounded by Mr. Thiel,” a holding that later became one of the largest remaining assets of Epstein’s estate. PBS NewsHour reported that the released emails included a 2014 message from Epstein to Thiel reading “that was fun, see you in 3 weeks” and a 2018 message inviting him to “Dec visit me Caribbean,” adding that it was unclear whether Thiel ever responded to the invitation. The progressive magazine Jacobin, in an April 2026 analysis, reported that Reid Hoffman facilitated the men’s connection in March 2014.

Being named in the files is not evidence of wrongdoing. The released House documents showed Epstein invited Thiel to his private island in 2018; The Week reported that “Thiel has said he never visited Epstein’s island and has denied any wrongdoing,” and that a spokesperson for Thiel said he never visited the island. Thiel has not been charged with or accused of any crime in connection with Epstein.

Is Peter Thiel in the Epstein files?

Yes. Peter Thiel is named in the 2026 releases of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate. The emails released by the House Oversight Committee show that Epstein placed about $40 million into funds managed by Valar Ventures, a firm Thiel co-founded, and that Thiel corresponded with Epstein over roughly five years, with meetings scheduled between 2014 and 2016 — as reported by The Week (citing The New York Times) and PBS NewsHour. PBS NewsHour documented specific email exchanges, including a 2018 invitation from Epstein for Thiel to visit his Caribbean property, which it was unclear whether Thiel accepted. Per The Week, Thiel has said he never visited Epstein’s island and has denied any wrongdoing. He has not been accused of any criminal conduct in connection with Epstein.

Evidence

Every claim above traces to one primary source: the emails released by the House Oversight Committee (Epstein-estate documents, “Third Batch,” 2026). Below is that correspondence, transcribed, with our annotations connecting each passage to what this profile states. Read the originals via the links beneath the panel.

Read the originals: House Oversight Committee release ↗ · Zeteo searchable copy (Google Pinpoint) ↗

Documents

Primary-source records that reference Peter Thiel. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; Thiel’s spokesperson says he never visited Epstein’s island, and he has denied any wrongdoing.

• House Oversight Committee — Epstein email correspondence release (Nov. 2025) — The emails released by the House Oversight Committee are the basis for the reporting that Thiel corresponded with Epstein over roughly five years, including a 2014 message (“that was fun, see you in 3 weeks”) and a 2018 invitation to “Dec visit me Caribbean.”
• House Oversight Committee — Epstein records provided by the DOJ (33,295 pages, 2025) — Thiel’s communications and scheduled meetings with Epstein are among the records the Department of Justice provided to Congress.