(DCWatchdog.com) – The founder of eBay, Iranian-American billionaire Pierre Omidyar, has donated $2 million to leftist nonprofits seeking to “defund the police.”
Omidyar, who is of Iranian origin but was born in France and holds dual US and French citizenship, has a fortune of almost 9 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
The e-commerce billionaire has also “plowed money” into a private security firm, a startup called “Uber for bodyguards,” The New York Post reports, citing independent journalist Lee Fang.
Fang is a former reporter for the Intercept, a pro-left news site founded by Omidyar.
According to the journalist, Omidyar’s charity, the Omidyar Network, gave more than $500,000 to nonprofits protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020.
One of them, The Movement for Black Lives, which calls itself an “absolutist” coalition, received $300,000 from the Omidyar Network.
“When we say ‘defund and abolish the police,’ we mean exactly that,” reads a recent Movement for Black Lives statement.
According to tax records cited by Fang, the Omidyar Network gave another $100,000 to Equity and Transformation, a Chicago NPO dedicated to “defunding the police.”
Two other organizations connected with the Omidyar Network — PolicyLink and Democracy Fund — received $1.3 million for a website named DefundPolice.org.
Leftist advocates use the site to issue calls for slashing police budgets.
At the same time, as a private investor, the eBay founder has invested in startups such as Bond, an NYC firm offering bodyguards on demand.
Bond was launched in 2017 and raised $72 million in funding, including Omidyar’s investments. Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly advises its board.
“With the Bond platform, bodyguards are no longer just for celebrities and executives. Now you can reserve affordable, highly-trained, professional bodyguards whenever you need them, on-demand via the Bond platform and app,” the company website states.
“The police unfortunately have taken a step back… [and Bond] fills in the gap when you feel somewhat uncomfortable,” Kelly recently told Fox News.
Omidyar has also invested in Deep Sentinel, an AI security camera system for identifying intruders.
eBay founder gives nearly $2M to defund police — while funding private security startup https://t.co/1kvxUitsld pic.twitter.com/qo4r6wzYwu
— New York Post (@nypost) May 26, 2023
