Amisil Holdings Ltd., a risk capital investor, seeks to recover the value of its investment in Clarium, which it said is worth as much as $18 million, according to the court filing. Amisil invested $300,000 in Clarium, which was formerly called Thiel Capital Management, for a 1.0 percent membership interest, according to the suit.

Thiel is President of Clarium Capital Management LLC and the Chairman of the firm’s Investment Committee, which oversees the firm’s research, investment, and trading strategies. Before starting Clarium, Thiel served as Chairman and CEO of PayPal, Inc., an Internet company he co-founded in December 1998 that was acquired by eBay, Inc. for $1.5 billion in October 2002. Prior to founding PayPal, Thiel ran Thiel Capital Management LLC, the Menlo Park-based predecessor to Clarium, which started with $1 million under management in the fall of 1996.

The suit claims that although Clarium received large sums from the 2002 PayPal initial public offering and its subsequent sale to eBay Inc., Amisil received no return on its Clarium investment from the transactions.

Clarium General Counsel Bruce Gibney said in a statement that Clarium believes Amisil’s claims are based on numerous misstatements of fact and have no merit. PayPal is a San Jose, Calif.-based online payment processing company.

Thiel began his financial career as a derivatives trader at CS Financial Products, after he practiced securities law at Sullivan & Cromwell. In addition to managing Clarium, Thiel is active in a variety of philanthropic and educational pursuits, sitting on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Research Institute and the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School, and on The Singularity Institute’s Board of Advisors. He received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

Alex Akesson
Contributing Writer
HedgeCo.Net
Email: Editor@hedgeco.net