Silicon Valley tycoon Peter Thiel has reportedly been bankrolling wrestler Hulk Hogan's lawsuits against online US website Gawker Media.
Thiel, an early backer of Facebook and a co-founder of PayPal, played a lead role in underwriting Hogan's privacy case, according to a report in Forbes.
Mr Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, won a $140m jury verdict against Gawker in March after it published a sex tape.
On Wednesday, a Florida judge denied the website's motion for a new trial in the case and refused to reduce the $140m verdict.
Gawker founder Nick Denton, who is from Hampstead, London, told the New York Times on Tuesday he had a "personal hunch" someone in Silicon Valley was financing Hogan's legal action.
Mr Thiel - who also founded a hedge fund and venture capital firm - has not yet issued a statement on the matter, but he has previously criticised Gawker.
In 2007, New York-based Gawker published an article headlined: "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people."
Mr Thiel was not open about his sexuality at the time, but has since confirmed he is gay.
In 2009, Mr Thiel said former Gawker publication Valleywag was "the Silicon Valley equivalent of al Qaeda".
Gawker publications have written critically of other Silicon Valley figures.
Their coverage of Mr Thiel has also focused on his right-wing politics and the "big dumb failure" of his hedge fund.
Gawker is also facing lawsuits from Shiva Ayyadurai, an entrepreneur who claims to have invented email, and journalist Ashley Terrill.
Lawsuits backed by third parties are not unusual in the US, though they are usually financially motivated by potential proceeds from a large damages award.
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