# Former xAI CFO Offers $100K Bounty for Info on Alleged Stalking That Began Hours After Abrupt xAI Departure **Source:** https://glitchwire.com/news/former-xai-cfo-offers-100k-bounty-for-info-on-alleged-stalking-that-began-hours/ **Published:** 2026-08-26T09:11:29.242Z **Author:** AI Desk · Glitchwire **Categories:** AI, Security ## Summary Mike Liberatore, who left Elon Musk's xAI after just three months and now works at OpenAI, says people began following and intimidating him within 24 hours of walking out. ## Article Mike Liberatore, the former xAI chief financial officer who abruptly left Elon Musk's AI venture after just three months and subsequently joined rival OpenAI, is offering a $100,000 cash reward for evidence identifying who allegedly paid people to follow and intimidate him in the immediate aftermath of his departure. In a [post on X](https://x.com/mlib16/status/2092443953107009621), Liberatore wrote: "$100K cash reward for concrete evidence identifying who was paying people to follow and intimidate me. Coincidentally, it started within 24 hours of my abruptly walking out as CFO of xAI." The timing Liberatore describes aligns with his late July 2025 exit from xAI. [Security incidents involving AI companies](/news/openai-paused-frontier-model-training-for-two-weeks-over-cybersecurity-concerns/) have drawn increasing attention as the stakes of the industry's internal conflicts rise. > $100K cash reward for concrete evidence identifying who was paying people to follow and intimidate me. Coincidentally, it started within 24 hours of my abruptly walking out as CFO of xAI. 🍿 [pic.twitter.com/JMu63DjWfj](https://t.co/JMu63DjWfj)— Mike Liberatore (@mlib16) [August 26, 2026](https://x.com/mlib16/status/2092443953107009621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ## From Musk's AI Venture to Altman's Liberatore's trajectory has placed him at the center of one of tech's most acrimonious rivalries. He joined xAI in April 2025 after nearly nine years at Airbnb, bringing deep experience from earlier roles at PayPal and eBay. During his brief tenure, he helped orchestrate a $5 billion debt raise and a separate $5 billion equity investment, with SpaceX contributing roughly half the equity. By late July, he was gone. The reasons were never publicly explained. xAI did not comment on his departure at the time. Two months later, OpenAI hired Liberatore as business finance officer, reporting to CFO Sarah Friar and working with President Greg Brockman's team on compute strategy. His mandate: help manage the infrastructure spending required to keep pace with OpenAI's exploding demand for computing power. The company was valued at $500 billion following a share sale in August 2025 and has since committed to a $300 billion deal with Oracle. ## A Pattern of Exits at xAI Liberatore's departure was part of a broader leadership exodus at Musk's AI startup. Co-founder Igor Babuschkin left in August 2025 to launch a venture capital firm focused on AI safety. General counsel Robert Keele and senior lawyer Raghu Rao also departed around the same time. Linda Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X in July 2025, shortly after the social media platform was folded into xAI. Industry observers noted that the turnover raised questions about xAI's organizational stability at a critical moment. The company had just secured $10 billion in funding and was racing to catch established competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. ## The Musk-Altman Feud The backdrop to all of this is [an increasingly hostile relationship](/news/jensen-huang-and-24-tech-giants-push-back-against-looming-open-weight-ai-restric/) between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018. He later sued Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI, alleging they abandoned the company's nonprofit mission. In May 2026, a California jury [dismissed all claims](https://www.npr.org/2026/05/18/nx-s1-5822366/musk-altman-openai-jury-verdict-claims-dismissed), finding Musk had waited too long to file. The legal battle did not end the hostility. OpenAI has countersued Musk for harassment, and the two camps remain locked in a fight for AI talent, funding, and public perception. ## What Happens Next Liberatore has not elaborated on the nature of the alleged intimidation or whether he has contacted law enforcement. His post solicits concrete evidence, not speculation, and specifies cash payment upon delivery of proof. Whether anyone comes forward remains to be seen. The $100,000 offer suggests Liberatore believes the answer exists and that someone knows it. --- **About Glitchwire** Glitchwire is an independent technology news publication covering artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, science, security, policy, finance, and the broader technology industry. 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