Shaun Maguire, a partner at the prominent venture capital firm Sequoia, announced he’ll be cutting a $300,000 check to Donald Trump — just minutes after the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts. The timing, Maguire said, was not a coincidence.
In a lengthy screed on X, Maguire, who said he voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016 and did not vote in 2020, outlined his reasoning — including a take about the “double standards and lawfare against Trump.”
He also acknowledged that it may not be the most shrewd move for business.
“I know that I’ll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me,” he wrote. “The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Maguire, who did not respond to a request to comment from Business Insider, may be less alone than he thinks.
Following his conviction, Trump’s campaign reported raising a record $34.8 million. And while that amount was mostly from small donors, per the Trump team, some big-money donors and Silicon Valley titans have signaled their support for the former president — and the guilty verdict doesn’t seem to have stopped them.
Billionaire venture capitalist David Sacks, who is co-hosting a fundraiser for Trump next week, called the trial a “sham.” Elon Musk replied in agreement with Maguire. Investor Keith Rabois reposted various takes that criticized the verdict.
While Silicon Valley has long been a liberal hub, Trump has been courting the big-pocketed tech executives and venture capitalists there.
Chamath Palihapitiya, another venture capital billionaire and Sacks’ podcast partner, will also cohost next week’s Trump fundraiser at Sacks’ home, despite donating six figures to Biden in 2020. Musk has reportedly been in talks with Trump regarding an advisory role, should he win.
Others, like venture capitalist Marc Andreeson and Rabois, have not announced their support for Trump but have criticized Biden.
The current administration’s stance on regulation — particularly the FTC’s approach to Big Tech companies — and calls for increased taxes on the wealthy has turned some former Democrats against the party.
The members of the monied West Coast class throwing their support behind Trump are mirroring some Wall Street counterparts. Last week, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman announced he’d be backing the former president. Hedge fund giant Bill Ackman is reportedly leaning toward endorsing him, too.
Of course, the growing number of influential Silicon Valley voices supporting Trump — Sacks and Palihapitiya have their popular podcast, Musk has his an entire social media platform — are not representative of many of the area’s wealthy inhabitants.
For example, earlier this month, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla hosted fundraising events for Biden.
Correction: May 31, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money Trump’s campaign raised following the verdict. It raised $34.8 million, not $34.8 billion.
