Former employee: Omidyar spiked my Mossack Fonseca story and then demanded my money

Yesterday, I wrote about how First Look Media paid superstar muckraker (and champion of the underpaid) close to a quarter of a million dollars in 2014 for publishing precisely zero articles.

Today we learn that Pierre Omidyar was not quite so generous with all his reporters.

Take, for example, Ken Silverstein, the famed investigative journalist hired in 2013 by Omidyar as First Look’s senior investigative reporter. Silverstein was still employed by First Look Media when, in late 2014, he wrote a killer story about Mossack Fonseca. Which is to say, he was months and months ahead of the Guardian and everyone else who are currently publishing bombshell after bombshell about the shady law firm.

And yet, some were surprised to see that, despite still being on Omidyar’s payroll, Silverstein’s huge scoop was published on Vice.

One of those surprised people was Pando Senior Editor Mark Ames who, on Sunday, asked Silverstein for an explanation:

Huh. @KenSilverstein1 Dec 2014 scoop on #panamapapers law firm published in Vice, but he was still at The Intercept pic.twitter.com/7Qj6RIbud4

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) April 4, 2016

Silverstein’s response was stunning. According to the former First Look senior investigative reporter, not only did Omidyar refuse to publish the story, but he demanded Silverstein’s fee from Vice.

.@MarkAmesExiled FYI @pierre wouldn't pub story but demanded my fee from VICE. Oh well, at least I'm not in Moscow https://t.co/pZT7qr14yt

— Ken Silverstein (@KenSilverstein1) April 4, 2016

Yep, the multi-billionaire founder of eBay apparently asked a freelance reporter for his fee from an article.

No word on whether Omidyar also steals his reporters’ lunch money. But let’s assume.