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A serial mega-tipper who gained attention by Instagramming receipts tagged TipsForJesus has returned, leaving their first massive tip — $5,000 on $100 in drinks at a New York bar — after a year of silence. Now, TipsForJesus is stepping out of the shadows of online anonymity, appearing to acknowledge his real identity, former Paypal VP Jack Selby, which was confirmed by the New York Post.
The identity of TipsForJesus has been rumored for some time. And surprising no one, the tipper is a man of comical wealth for whom a $2,000 tip on a $50 bill at Tacolicious (from 2015) is pure, inconsequential sport. When you’ve got $50 million, as Selby reportedly does, you’ve got to keep yourself entertained somehow. Per the Post story:
Selby was spotted at Upper West Side bar Guyer’s, run by romance-novel cover model Cindy Guyer, over the weekend ordering just over $100 in drinks — but he left a $5,000 tip.
“The bartender was brought to tears,” says a spy.
The receipt said “Tips for Jesus” and, “We’re back!”
TipsForJesus/Selby neglected to post a receipt shot as usual, but instead linked back to the Post article, implicitly admitting that it’s him, while redacting his name. That nod could mean that Selby will continue tipping, anonymity be damned, simply for the sake of Jesus, fun, or pure, wealth-induced boredom — whatever it is that inspires him.
Selby is also likely to pop up again in San Francisco, where he was on a tipping spree in 2014. The source of his wealth: He was PayPal’s vice president before PayPal sold to eBay in 2002. Then, he and other so-called “PayPal Mafia” member Peter Thiel started the macro hedge fund Clarium Capital Management.
These days, Selby is the managing director of Thiel Capital, another fund from Thiel that’s based in the Presido. Thiel, of course, is a conservative billionaire who backed Donald Trump and spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention. Thiel, like Selby, enjoys anonymous donations: He secretly funded a lawsuit that bankrupted the news and gossip website Gawker, who first suggested that TipsForJesus was Jack Selby, according to anonymous sources, back in 2013.
