"}\nThe involvement of Thiel, an eccentric figure in Silicon Valley who has advocated for teenagers to skip college and openly supported Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump,\n adds another wrinkle to a case that has garnered widespread attention \nfor its implications over celebrity privacy and a publication\u2019s First \nAmendment rights. During court proceedings, which ended in late March \nwith a $140 million victory for Hogan, there had been rumors that\n a wealthy individual had funded Hogan\u2019s case though there was never any\n hard evidence that surfaced to prove that was true.
\nOn Tuesday, in an interview with\n The New York Times, Denton said he had a \u201cpersonal hunch\u201d that the \nfinancial aid could be linked to someone in Silicon Valley.\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a billionaire and you don\u2019t like the coverage of you, and \nyou don\u2019t particularly want to embroil yourself any further in a public \nscandal, it\u2019s a pretty smart, rational thing to fund other legal cases,\u201d\n he told the Times.
\nIt is not illegal for an outside entity to help fund another party\u2019s lawsuit, and the practice, known as \u201cthird-party\n litigation funding\u201d has become increasingly common in the U.S. \nTypically, the outside party negotiates for a defined share of any \nproceeds from the suit.
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