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Mom Jones; Francis Chung/Politico/AP
When George Santos, the indicted however still-in-office Republican congressman from Queens, New York, just lately filed the marketing campaign finance report for his reelection effort, there was one thing uncommon about it: Of about 50 complete contributors, the doc listed about three dozen contributors unfold throughout the nation who principally have Chinese language names and who had every maxed out to Santos by donating $3,300, the authorized most for the first election. Collectively, this group pumped roughly $130,000 into Santos’ political checking account. This was hardly a coincidence. This band of economic backers seem to incorporate supporters of Miles Guo, the exiled Chinese language billionaire and Steve Bannon affiliate who was arrested in March for allegedly working a $1 billion fraud scheme.
This roster of donors represents nearly the entire cash Santos pulled in within the second quarter of this 12 months.
One in every of these maxed-out contributors is Rona Starks (also referred to as Rong Liang Starks), who lives in Sugar Land, Texas. In line with an affiliate of Starks, she has been an enormous fan of Guo and his campaign towards the Chinese language authorities, and that prompted her to write down a verify for $3,300 to Santos, who has stridently defended Guo. She declined to talk to Mom Jones. Xuehong Zhang, one other Santos donor who despatched him $3,300 and who’s a masseuse in Plano, Texas, informed the New York Occasions, “I see him need to take down CCP [the Chinese Communist Party]. I simply need to take down CCP.”
Guo, who fled China in 2014 to keep away from fraud expenses there, has branded himself a foe of the Chinese language Communist Occasion, and he has amassed a loyal following of supporters within the Chinese language diaspora in the USA and overseas. In March, the Justice Division charged Guo with deploying a collection of fraudulent enterprise schemes to fleece his followers out of greater than $1 billion. Federal prosecutors alleged Guo used buyers’ funds to pay for mansions and fancy vehicles, $36,000 mattresses, and a $27 million yacht. He has been indicted for wire fraud, securities fraud, financial institution fraud, and cash laundering. Guo claims the feds are after him on the behest of the Chinese language authorities to silence him.
Santos, a politician with few allies, has performed to Guo’s crowd.
On Might 5, he confirmed up at a $26.5 million mansion in Mahwah, New Jersey, which the Justice Division has alleged Guo bought with funds from his billion-dollar rip-off. Santos was there to participate in a live-stream interview performed by two high Guo aides that aired on Gettr, a right-leaning social media utility over which Guo has exercised management.
In the course of the interview, Santos pledged to battle to make sure that “Miles Guo is free and given a possibility to a trial.” Guo has been imprisoned with out bail since his March 15 arrest. Santos tacitly backed Guo supporters’ conspiratorial rivalry that the Justice Division is focusing on Guo to kowtow to the Chinese language Communist Occasion.
It was two weeks after Santos appeared on the pro-Guo livestream that these massive contributions began to pour into Santos’ marketing campaign. A supply who was beforehand a Guo supporter shared with Mom Jones a Google doc that was arrange for Guo backers so they may register their donations to Santos. The highest of the doc learn in Chinese language, “This manner is for comrades who’ve donated to Santos to register their donation info.”
For a number of years, Guo has overseen chapters all over the world, organized totally on Discord, the social media utility, which can be akin to fan golf equipment. Guo has used these teams, which he calls “farms,” to lift cash for nonprofits he controls and to drum up investments for enterprise ventures he launched. That features a number of schemes that the Justice Division allege have been fraudulent. The shape for Santos donors requested them to incorporate their identify, the “farm” with which they’re affiliated, and the quantity they donated. The doc asks for a picture displaying proof of a donation.
On Santos’ marketing campaign finance report, a number of of the contributions on this record are attributed to school college students. Previous investigations of Santos’ marketing campaign funds—together with these performed by Mom Jones—have uncovered contributors whose identities couldn’t be confirmed and donors who mentioned they didn’t contribute to Santos.
After receiving these contributions, Santos went past legitimizing Guo’s claims on the livestream. He delivered a speech on the Home flooring by which he exclaimed, “The fees towards Miles Guo are merely a part of an organizing marketing campaign of political persecution introduced towards him by the CCP.” He then launched a invoice he known as the “Guo Act,” which is premised on the unsubstantiated notion that China is corruptly influencing US courts to advance its pursuits. The invoice would require federal judges and senior federal prosecutors to submit monetary disclosures supposedly geared toward assessing whether or not they have acquired funds by international governments. The invoice just isn’t going wherever.
Santos raised greater than $133,000 between March and June of this 12 months. His present fundraising numbers—though not notably spectacular when in comparison with un-indicted congressional candidates—have improved because the first quarter of 2023, when his marketing campaign reported refunding more cash than it acquired. The marketing campaign used many of the latest donations to pay Santos $85,000 to cowl one of many private loans Santos had made to his 2022 marketing campaign. That signifies that cash that appears to have come from these contributors ended up in Santos’ personal pocket.
Santos’ workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Santos nonetheless has not repaid $530,000 of non-public loans, in accordance with the submitting. The supply of the cash for these loans stay unexplained. In line with the latest filings, Santos’ marketing campaign spent successfully nothing on actions that may assist him get reelected. The most important marketing campaign expense apart from the mortgage reimbursement was $3,500 for compliance consulting.
Santos was indicted in Might on 13 counts of wire fraud, cash laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to the Home of Representatives. He has pleaded not responsible.
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