Musk's fondness for sex and drugs made him prime Russian target in blackmail plot: Ex-FBI
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
Indian Express
9 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘I'm disappointed in Putin': Trump suggests he may cut 50-day deadline over Ukraine ceasefire
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he may shorten the 50-day deadline he gave to Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a ceasefire deal over the war in Ukraine. 'I'm disappointed in President Putin,' Trump said while speaking alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, according to Reuters. 'I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.' However, Trump did not say what the new timeline would be. Two weeks ago, Trump threatened 'very severe tariffs' on Russia's trading partners 'if we don't have a deal in 50 days' The BBC reported that Trump was responding to a question from a journalist about the Ukraine conflict. He said he had been close to reaching a ceasefire agreement with Putin five times. 'I've spoken to President Putin a lot. I've gotten along with him very well,' Trump said, according to the BBC. 'But then he goes out and starts launching rockets into some city, like Kyiv, and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever you have bodies lying all over the street.' Trump added, 'I may reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen.' Following Trump's remarks, Russia's MOEX stock index dropped by as much as 1.2% during the day, according to Reuters. The index was down 0.8% from yesterday's close as of 1219 GMT, MOEX data showed. Russia's Foreign Ministry responded by rejecting Trump's approach. 'The language of ultimatums, blackmail, and threats is unacceptable to Moscow,' it said. The ministry also called the threat of new sanctions 'mundane. (With inputs from Reuters and BBC)
Mint
9 minutes ago
- Mint
Trump says will cut 50-day deadline for Russia to end Ukraine war
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he will cut the 50-day deadline he gave to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. "I'm disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him. So we're going to have to look and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number," Trump said while speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Turnberry in western Scotland. In Russia, the Moscow Exchange Index (MOEX) declined by 0.93% on Monday after Trump's comments on reducing 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Mint
9 minutes ago
- Mint
‘Switch off our economy?': Indian Envoy Vikram Doraiswami's schools Western media on Russian oil question
Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Vikram Doraiswami delivered a rather fierce and a blunt reply to a journalist criticising India's oil imports from Russia. Doraiswami, who was talking to British radio station Times Radio last week, asked 'What would have us do? Switch off our economy?', adding that India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world and imports over 80 per cent of its products. According to a TOI report, the High Commissioner pointed out the irony and said that many of European countries are continuing to buy rare earth and other energy products, not oil, perhaps, but from the same countries that they're refusing to let India purchase from. When asked about India's 'closeness' with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin, Doraiswami said, 'We have a relationship that is based on a number of metrics. One of these is our long-standing security relationship that goes back to an era in which some of our Western partners wouldn't sell us weapons, but would sell it to countries in our neighbourhood that use them only to attack us.' 'Second, we have an energy relationship today which is a result of everybody else buying energy from sources that we used to earlier buy from. So we've been displaced out of the energy market largely and the cost have gone up. We are the third largest consumer of energy in the world and we import over 80 per cent of our product. What would you have us to do? Switch off our energy?' Doraiswami asked. "Third, we also see around us relationships that other countries maintain for their own convenience with countries that are a source of difficulty for us. Do we ask you to come up with a little test of loyalty?" he further asked. A Reuters report on Monday said that the European Parliament is considering proposals to speed up the EU's phase out Russian gas by one year, to January 2027, as officials in Brussels prepare to negotiate the legally-binding ban. European Union countries and lawmakers are preparing to negotiate the EU's plan to ban imports of Russian gas – with the starting point a legal proposal the European Commission made last month to phase out all Russian gas imports by January 1, 2028. The Parliament's lead lawmakers on the Russian gas ban have each proposed that this deadline is moved forward to January 1, 2027, documents detailing their amendments to the Commission proposal showed, the report added. (With inputs from Reuters)
