CAGOP Officer Election Update: Peter Kuo’s Foreign Venture Capital Investor Problem

The first thing are these Jade Statues they are trying to turn in to Bitcoin. It is an all cash business and all unregistered, unregulated and unlicensed. Worse, the solicitation is for non-us investors, apparently to get around regulatory oversight in California and the USA. This is also apparently how he gets around scrutiny from Insurance interests for his outside businesses.

One of Peter Kuo’s companies is based in the ZGC Capital Building which has been a focal point of the Pentagon for industrial espionage and President Trump’s trade war with China.

Politico: How China acquires ‘the crown jewels’ of U.S. technology “But it’s not always easy to trace the money back to a single source, let alone determine what connection that source has to Beijing’s Communist leadership. Haiyin Capital, a Beijing-based VC firm, is partially backed by a state-run Chinese company, according to a company release. Also complex is ZGC Capital Corporation — located in Silicon Valley and focused on providing startups with basic business help — is a subsidiary of a state-owned enterprise funded by the Beijing government, according to the organizations’ websites. Attempts to reach each organization were unsuccessful.”

The Financial Times: The tech fear behind Donald Trump’s trade war with China “Yet the incubator could also just as easily be ground zero in a 21st-century innovation war between the world’s two largest economies. Behind the Silicon Valley and Boston facilities is Zhongguancun Development Group, a venture capital fund that originated in Beijing’s technology district and is owned by the city’s municipal government. It is at the sharp end of what has become one of the most neuralgic issues in Washington.”

Kuo’s business advertises that it can connect Americans with Chinese Venture Capital Money…

President Trump has been staring down China in a trade war, and he has been effective and has forced them to the bargaining table. He has taken the step of banning Chinese technology from being used in American infrastructure.

So why then is Peter Kuo, an American businessman, working for the interests of China in China?

If you missed the first installment of our expose’ on the business dealings of Peter Kuo, it is linked here. It does not take an attorney to figure out that a lot of this stuff will make terrible optics for an American audience.

The Economist had something to say about the alarming wave of Chinese interests taking over American Companies:

In coming days President Donald Trump is expected to sign into effect the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernisation Act (FIRRMA), which establishes more vigilant reviews of foreign investments into American companies, including startups, on national-security grounds. While Mr Trump and China continue to spar over trade tariffs, FIRRMA reflects a fight over Chinese investment in American technology startups that is less visible but which nonetheless may have serious consequences for Silicon Valley.

Big deals with national-security implications have long been scrutinized. America’s powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has reviewed attempts by foreigners to take controlling stakes in domestic firms where their presence could weaken national security. But minority investments in startups went unremarked, though the firms may hold sensitive innovations in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, 3D printing and more.

If (a big if) you believe that Peter Kuo’s business ventures are legitimate – then you’ve accepted that he is actively engaged in getting Chinese investors to buy American Companies. This is not a good look for the California Republican Party.

Secondly, we posted a list of questions that have still gone unanswered by Mr. Kuo. If Mr. Kuo is unable to answer questions from ordinary CAGOP Delegates, what will he do when the national media comes calling? (fold like a cheap lawnchair?)

As we looked for answers, we came across a Pentagon report about the alarming rate of Chinese takeovers of US based tech companies.

HONG KONG — China is investing in Silicon Valley start-ups with military applications at such a rapid rate that the United States government needs tougher controls to stem the transfer of some of America’s most promising technologies, a Pentagon report says.

There are few restrictions on investing in American start-ups that focus on artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles and robotics, the report contends, and China has taken advantage. Beijing, the report says, is encouraging its companies to invest for the purpose of pushing the country ahead in its strategic competition with the United States.

In some instances, Chinese companies have made under-the-radar investments intended to dodge the oversight of a government agency, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as Cfius.

So, has Mr. Kuo been arranging transactions like the above or are his companies shells with no income? In just the last year, it appears from our research that Mr. Kuo has shut down two of his entities.

In a recent post about Mr. Kuo’s frequent, 3-week-plus trips overseas, we revealed a few more potential issues. The company highlighted above DCLUSA was featured in the post:

Another business venture is linked here. You will notice that there is limited information on the three-page site. It is a startup consulting company that alleges to recruit investors from China, Taiwan and Indonesia. I am struck by the typos on the site, lack of “Who we are”, the lack of testimonials and no physical or mailing address listed.

The post highlighted a Russian-Chinese Aircraft Manufacturing Interest that Mr. Kuo is attempting to start up. Kuo’s facebook is replete with posts about this company, its Russian investor friend of his, and the Chinese factory where these products will be manufactured for an unknown market. At the same time our President is stressing bringing back jobs to America, much of Peter Kuo’s business efforts seem to be aimed in the opposite direction, other than his insurance business.

At worst, these multiple offshore business dealings (crypto currency, Russia/China aircraft manufacture, helping Chinese plutocrats invest in US technology companies, and more) raise serious questions about their legitimacy and policy issues.

At best, the businesses are legitimate, yet look like they are competing with President Trump’s attempts to stop China from compromising our technology.

Somewhere in the middle is the fact that Kuo is gone out of the USA for as much as 6 months a year. Somewhere in the middle are the terrible optics of the unregistered securities and the Chinese Venture Capital – which side of these transactions does Peter represent? It’s unclear.

Some of these businesses do not have any visible activities – are they elaborate shells, that are being used for other purposes?

In case you wanted more information as to why the President is taking steps to reign in Chinese takeovers of American Businesses – see this Politico Article:

In fact, a six-month POLITICO investigation found that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the main vehicle for protecting American technology from foreign governments, rarely polices the various new avenues Chinese nationals use to secure access to American technology, such as bankruptcy courts or the foreign venture capital firms that bankroll U.S. tech startups.

The committee, known by its acronym CFIUS, isn’t required to review any deals, relying instead on outsiders or other government agencies to raise questions about the appropriateness of a proposed merger, acquisition or investment. And even if it had a more formal mandate, the committee lacks the resources to deal with increasingly complex cases, which revolve around lines of code and reams of personal data more than physical infrastructure.

Unbelievable. Also, what exactly happens on these trips? To be continued…