Posted by Curt on 7 September, 2020 at 1:19 pm. 4 comments already!

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Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, works at a multinational law firm that consults for several companies owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that employs former CCP officials.

Emhoff’s firm, DLA Piper, boasts of its nearly 130 years of experience dealing in China, as well as its team of 140 lawyers who make up a “China Investment Services” branch.

Harris’ husband has served as a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology practice and its Media, Sport, and Entertainment sector since 2017.

To assist in its China-focused consulting, DLA Piper has “China Desks” in both the United States and Europe, which raises questions about whether China’s closeness to Emhoff’s business could be exploited by the communist nation to gain leverage in the White House should Biden/Harris win in November.



DLA Piper has received big awards from the China Business Law Journal and China Law and Practice. The National Pulse notes of the firm’s hiring of former Chinese communist officials:

Ernest Yang, who serves as the firm’s Head of Litigation & Regulatory department and Co-Head of International Arbitration, was appointed to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)  in 2013. The CPPCC serves as the top advisory board for the Chinese Communist Party, and Yang was promoted to the body’s Standing Committee in 2019.

Jessica Zhao, a Senior Advisor, served as the Deputy Secretary General of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), a government-owned body established by the Chinese Communist Party in 1956. It was developed under the auspices of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, “a governmental body for the furtherance of Chinese trade promotion.”

Gloria Liu, who is a partner at DLA Piper, has“represented lead investors” in deals with Bytedance the company of controversial social media app TikTok, which President Trump is set to ban out of concerns that it feeds user information to China. Liu’s role, DLA Piper says, involves “liaising with the central and local authorities” in China.

Another consultant, James Phillips, identifies himself as having “advised” the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Australia.

DLA Piper has regularly worked for China’s Communist Party. The company proudly admits that it served as an advisor for two government-owned airlines: China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

Additionally, DLA Piper advised China Merchants Group (CMG), a state-owned company “under the direct supervision” of the Chinese Communist Party’s State Council, on a $2.5 billion tech deal.

CMG calls itself a “crucial participant and promoter of the national initiative of the Belt and Road,” an initiative by the CCP to gain greater economic and political control of the developing world.

Another company advised by DLA Piper, Huarong Investment Stock Corporation Limited, is a subsidiary of one of China’s largest state-owned bad debt managers. Then there’s China National Gold Group, a state-owned mining and refining company.

Still another client is Tencent, which hosts the WeChat app that was banned by the Trump administration over its links to the Chinese Communist Party. The company partnered with DLA Piper on a $230 million deal on a food delivery app, Miss Fresh.

DLA Piper has a “strong strategic partnership” with The Cohen Group, a consulting firm founded by former Secretary of Defense and Joe Biden endorser Bill Cohen.

Although Cohen described President Trump as a “tyrant,” his firm employs several high-level leaders in the Chinese Communist Party and has advised party officials as part of a Harvard program.

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