India, June 29 -- TMZ founder Harvey Levin has claimed he was prepared to pay the Bitcoin ransom to obtain alleged evidence linked to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC's Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.

Levin said he contacted the FBI after receiving messages from the same person throughout the course of Nancy's disappearance. However, he alleged the bureau later "ghosted" him after initially expressing interest in the proposal.

Levin made the remarks while discussing a fresh series of emails sent to TMZ by the anonymous individual demanding one Bitcoin in exchange for the information, and he has spoken with TMZ using the same IP address throughout.

Nancy Guthrie has been missing since late January afte...