Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey donated $100,000 to President Trump’s inaugural celebrations through a shell company seemingly named after a time-traveling vehicle from role-playing game Chrono Trigger.
A 510-page filing with the Federal Election Commission, reported on by the Washington Post last night, lists Los Angeles-based Wings of Time, LLC as donating the money on Jan. 4, 2017. Wings of Time’s sole owner, according to California business records, is Fiendlord’s Keep, Inc. The address listed for Wings of Time is also shared by Fiendlord’s Keep, Black Omen LLC, Zeal Palace LP and Oculus LLC.
Oculus, Black Omen and Fiendlord’s Keep all list Luckey as the sole owner, though the Oculus filing shows that company name is no longer owned by Luckey.
Fiendlord’s Keep is another Chrono Trigger reference.
In the 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System role-playing game, the Fiendlord’s Keep, which is also known as Magus’ Castle, is home to 100 monsters who live in the East Wing and the West Wing.
In Chrono Trigger lore, the Black Omen is a flying temple that can only be reached with the Wings of Time. Once there, players have to fight and defeat Queen Zeal and finally take on the game’s final boss: an alien parasite named Lavos.
If it isn’t clear by now, Chrono Trigger is among Luckey’s favorite games.
Wings of Time is among 1,514 people and companies listed in the document filed by the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee to the FEC yesterday. The committee raised nearly $107 million dollars for Trump inauguration parties from, among others, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
We’ve reached out to Luckey for comment and will update this story when he responds.
He did respond to someone on Twitter when asked about the donation:
@oliverkri Probably the same reason companies like Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Coca-Cola, etc do!
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) April 19, 2017
Luckey’s return to Twitter activity last night comes after a silence that started on Sept. 23 following an apology he posted on Facebook concerning his connections with Nimble America.
In September, it was reported Luckey financed a pro-Trump “shitposting” group coordinated via a controversial pro-Donald Trump subreddit. That group, called Nimble America, counts one-time Twitter harasser and right-wing extremist Milo Yiannopoulos as a "silent partner.”
Luckey disappeared as the public face of Facebook-owned Oculus following the revelation. He wasn’t at the annual Oculus Connect event in October. In December, an Oculus spokesperson told Polygon that the company would have more to share about the founder’s “new role” soon.
In February, Luckey surfaced briefly as a witness in the trial that had ZeniMax accusing Oculus of trade secret theft and breaking an non-disclosure agreement. That case ended with a half-a-billion-dollar settlement against Oculus after finding that Luckey, and by extension Oculus, failed to comply with an NDA. The jury also said that the company did not misappropriate trade secrets.
On March 30, a spokesperson for Oculus-owner Facebook told Polygon that Luckey had departed the company. They did not detail under what circumstances that happened. His departure came about a year after the launch of the consumer version of the VR headset.
Since his departure, Luckey has been relatively silent online, until last night when he posted ten tweets over the course of a couple of hours. That kicked off with a repost of something he posted on April 19, 2016.
Nobody can stop me from reposting the same Sword Art Online pictures every year for the next 50 years! https://t.co/1iMO6DMbwB
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) April 19, 2017
And then turned to lyrics and eventually to responses to comments and questions about the Washington Post article.
@WilliamTurton We are never, ever ever
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) April 19, 2017
getting back together
@drewharwell >be WashPo
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) April 19, 2017
>accuse corp of being shell company
>Send email, wait 7 minute
>"Messages left with Luckey and his attorney were not returned"