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. 

Elon Musk has been a prime Russian target since the Ukraine war, a former FBI agent said(REUTERS)

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.