Mitch McConnell Recruit Tim Sheehy Dumped China-Linked Stocks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org
New reporting reveals that before he launched his campaign, Sheehy sold off stock that had ties to the Chinese Communist Party
Helena, MT – New reporting from HuffPost revealed that just before launching his campaign, Mitch McConnell recruit Tim Sheehy dumped “thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in companies with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Sheehy has invested in a Chinese technology corporation and companies “the U.S. has identified as threats to national security.” He recently dumped his shares in Tencent, the parent company of a messaging app that has been described as “a propaganda tool” and a “key part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surveillance and censorship apparatus.” He has also invested thousands of dollars in businesses that partner with Chinese technology giants like Hauwei, which have “a deep record of cooperation and collaboration” with China’s state security bureaucracy.
Sheehy also “maintains significant portfolios at financial institutions with deep ties to China,” including between $1 million and $5 million in stock in a mutual fund with Credit Suisse, which Fox News reported has a board member with “extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
HuffPost: 'Tough On China' GOP Senate Candidate Sold Off Chinese-Tied Stocks
By Chris D’Angelo
December 12, 2023
Tim Sheehy, a front-runner for the Republican Senate nomination in Montana, sold off thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in companies with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party before launching a campaign that, like those of many other Republicans, has been full of “tough on China” rhetoric.
Since launching his Senate bid in June, he has toed the party line on seemingly every major issue — even abandoning previously held views about the need to confront global climate change.
But his posture on China is complicated by the fact that, as a wealthy businessman [...] Sheehy invested in a Chinese technology corporation and several companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, including some that the U.S. has identified as threats to national security.
Sheehy’s campaign did not respond to HuffPost’s specific questions about his stock portfolio.
Sometime in the last year, Sheehy sold off shares in the Chinese tech giant Tencent, earning between $200 and $1,000 in dividends, according to his Senate campaign financial disclosure, which reports assets in broad ranges rather than specific figures.
Tencent is the world’s largest video game company and owner of WeChat, a messaging and social media app. Seth Kaplan, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, has called the app “a propaganda tool” and a “key part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surveillance and censorship apparatus.”
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order to put restrictions on Tencent’s WeChat and on TikTok, another social media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., citing national security concerns.
Sheehy also had thousands of dollars invested in businesses — gaming firm Roblox, digital advertising company the Trade Desk, ride-hailing and food delivery company Grab Holdings and chip manufacturer STMicroelectronics — that have partnered or worked closely with Chinese technology giants including Tencent, Huawei, Alibaba and Baidu.
Like Tencent, Huawei ― which is on the State Department’s list of “Communist Chinese military companies” ― has come under heavy scrutiny in the U.S. In 2019, the Trump administration placed the company on a trade blacklist, barring it from purchasing U.S. components without approval.
Huawei, Tencent and other Chinese tech companies have “a deep record of cooperation and collaboration” with China’s state security bureaucracy, and “no meaningful ability to tell the Chinese Communist Party ‘no’ if officials decide to ask for their assistance,” Christopher Ford, who was assistant secretary of state, said in September 2019.
As of October, when he filed his campaign financial disclosure, Sheehy still owned between $1,001 and $15,000 in stock in Roblox, Trade Desk and Grab, which have all collaborated with Tencent in recent years.
In the last year, Sheehy sold off stock in two semiconductor manufacturing companies — Geneva-headquartered STMicroelectronics and California-based Broadcom Ltd. — with current and former business ties to Huawei.
Sheehy also earned up to $5,000 from selling stock in two overseas oil companies, France-based TotalEnergies and London-headquartered TechnipFMC, that have ties to Chinese state-owned energy companies.
Sheehy also maintains significant portfolios at financial institutions with deep ties to China.
He has between $1 million and $5 million in stock in a mutual fund with Credit Suisse, which Fox News reported has a board member with “extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” He has between $250,000 and $500,000 in stock in Pzena Emerging Markets Value Fund, a mutual fund that has approximately 27% of its portfolio invested in China, including in Chinese technology giants such as Alibaba, Chinese state-owned entities and China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd., which the State Department has identified as a subsidiary of a communist Chinese military company.
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