January 5, 2021
Judicial Watch Uncovers Documents Behind $1 Billion Mask Deal Between California and Chinese Communist Party Linked Company
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it received 848 pages of documents revealing the contract materials and communications related to a $1 billion contract for face masks between the California Office of Emergency Services and the Chinese Communist Party linked BYD.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-releases/ca-ccp-byd-masks/?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tipsheet&utm_term=members&utm_content=20210112231349
China’s BYD CA Mask FOIA
849 page pdf
https://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Chinas-BYD-CA-Mask-FOIA.pdf
The records include an April 7, 2020, email from the Office of Emergency Services Assistant Chief Counsel Jennifer Bollinger to Oscar Su, Senior Director of BYD America, in which Bollinger states, “Our normal procurement process has been deviated from given the exigency of the situation.”
(Page 255-266)
In an April 6, 2020, email Stella Lu, the president of BYD Motors (the guarantor of the masks) tells Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the Office of Emergency Services that they should, “open champagne tomorrow morning at our conference call,” where they will finalize the purchase by California of $1 billion worth of BYD masks.
(Pages 85)
On April 7, John Zhuang, counsel for BYD and BYD’s lead negotiator, sent the finalized contracts to Bollinger, who led the negotiations for the Office of Emergency Services. Bollinger replied, “This is very exciting!!! We will circle back today with the signature as soon as we can.”
(Page 267-268)
In an amendment to the master agreement, BYD had to refund $247 million to California of the $495 million down payment they had received apparently because they weren’t able to meet the deadline of receiving National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) certification for their N95 masks. The certification deadline was extended from April 30, 2020, to May 31, 2020.
(Amendment page 39-43 of original)
On March 28, 2020, Brian Stansbury, a member of the board of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, emailed Grady Joseph of the CA Office of Emergency Services and Paul Teng of Himalaya Capital in order to introduce Joseph to Teng, saying, “Grady as we discussed the pension system for the City of San Francisco – the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) – reached out to our investment partners to see how they can help in the fight against COVID-19.
(Page 278)
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Trump Blacklisted This Chinese Company. Now It’s Making Coronavirus Masks for U.S. Hospitals.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjdqnb/trump-blacklisted-this-chinese-company-now-its-making-coronavirus-masks-for-us-hospitals