dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

FAFO

KARMA

KASHYAPP

https://www.wftv.com/news/kash-patel-had/ODRJQR4UENF43KNUTH3XMJOWDA/

The document shows Patel drew income from an unusual range of sources — the Embassy of Qatar, Shein and a California company that rents out metal storage tanks. Some of that work came at particularly sensitive times for clients.

Patel’s consulting for The Czechoslovak Group, a foreign arms conglomerate also known as CSG, coincided with the firm's push to purchase Vista Outdoor, the maker of such famous American ammo brands as Federal and Remington. Senate Republicans, including future Vice President JD Vance, blasted the purchase last year as a threat to national security and urged the Biden administration to review the pending sale.

In a letter to the Treasury Department, Vance accused CSG of having “ties to the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.” The company has vehemently denied Vance’s claims, calling them “nonsense.” The sale went through in November.

Patel’s financial disclosure is not clear about when he was hired by CSG, how much he was paid or what work he did. But it indicates he consulted for a branch of the company called CSGM during the past two years and made more than $5,000 for his work, which was done through his consulting firm, Trishul LLC.

Vance spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk did not directly address Patel’s work for the arms maker or whether the vice president still has concerns about the company’s purchase of an American ammunition manufacturer. She said that Vance has faith in Patel and believes he is “extremely qualified” to be FBI director.

Another foreign company that hired Patel was Elite Depot Ltd., the Cayman Islands-based parent company of Shein.

He began consulting in April for Elite Depot in an arrangement that ended last month. His disclosure states he was given between $1 million and $5 million worth of unvested stock in the company that will mature over the coming year. He said he wasn't divesting from Elite Depot — unlike many of his other stock holdings — because there was only a “remote” chance his new job would involve the company.

The forms don't reveal what Patel did for the company or what he may have earned beyond the transfer of stock. On the campaign trail, Trump railed against China and pledged to impose steep tariffs on the country’s exports to the U.S.

Though now headquartered in Singapore, Shein produces most of its goods in China, and Trump's proposed levies represented a threat to Shein's direct-to-consumer business model, which ships low-cost goods from Chinese factories to U.S. consumers. Most of those goods are imported duty free under a nearly century-old trade loophole. Trump slapped 10% tariffs on Chinese imports that also mandated an end to the loophole.

Shein did not respond to a request for comment. It has also been dogged by criticisms over accusations that its supply chain may rely on forced labor. Last month, a lawyer for the company evaded questions from British lawmakers about whether its products include cotton from China's Xinjiang province, where Beijing is accused of holding members of mostly Muslim ethnic groups in detention camps.

Patel will maintain his investment in Shein's parent company even as he leads an FBI that has aggressively sounded the alarm about the danger China poses to the U.S.

The FBI says China has long engaged in a vast, multi-pronged espionage and influence operation that relies on traditional spies and hackers, as well as Chinese-based companies.