Suit Says Hedge Fund No Pal To Investor

Amisil Holdings is one unhappy camper. The San Francisco-based risk-capital investor is suing Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal, and his hedge fund, Clarium Capital Management, claiming the Frisco-based firm and a couple of staffers have been committing fraud for years. Amisil says Clarium failed to pay out even a single penny to it despite PayPal’s initial public offering of more than $131 million in 2002 and its subsequent sale to eBay for $1.5 billion, which yielded more than $60 million to Clarium. “Peter Thiel has been playing an elaborate shell game with our investment for the last eight years,” Senior V.P. Amit Choudury said in a statement, referring to the estimated $18 million it entrusted to Clarium in 1998. Choudry -- who as a onetime minority member of Clarium says he was offered $372 for his membership interest -- accuses Thiel of skimming Clarium’s money and putting it in his pockets. “There’s been no pay for us and he’s been no pal,” said Choudury. Amisil says the Thiel Capital International Fund became the sole seed investor in the company that has become known as PayPal and that Clarium owned at least 15% in the fund and the company by the end of 1999. No comment yet from Thiel or Clarium.