Kash Patel, a candidate for FBI Director at Donald Trump, has held inventory in a group that owns Shein, a Chinese first fashion retailer, accused of using forced labor, including his business. The relationship is being examined.
In its financial disclosure format, Patel said it owns $1 million worth of stake at Elite Depot, a Cayman Islands group that owns the scene, according to UK business records. The stock was Patel's biggest asset in disclosure.
Human rights groups and US lawmakers, including Republican Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who is now Trump's Secretary of State, accused Sheen of using forced labor in her activities in China. Shein previously told the Financial Times that there is a “zero tolerance policy” on forced labor.
Patel, who easily represented the representative director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, no longer works at the elite depot. However, in his format of disclosure, he said he would retain his limited inventory. The first equity tranche was entitled February 1st, two days after the Senate confirmation hearing.
“The next FBI director worked for eight months as a fashion consultant for a shadowy Cayman Holdings Company connected to the Chinese Communist Party's slave labor manufacturer, earning up to $5 million in fees. Connecticut's Democratic state. Senator Chris Murphy wrote on social media platform X on Friday.
Patel is one of the Trump administration's most controversial candidates. Considered Trump's loyalist, he defended far-right canon conspiracy theory and threatened retaliation against opponents of the President's Magazine movement in the government and the media.
He vowed that the FBI's Washington headquarters will “reopen as a 'deep state' museum on the first day and have promised to take root from US law enforcement.”
Patel is also an executive at Trump Media & Technology Group and runs the President's Truth Social Platform.
While working at Elite Depot, Patel criticized Shane's rival Tem in an opinion book published in the US media. In one article in The Washington Times, Patel argued that Temu is a “far greater threat” to the US than Tiktok, a popular short video app owned by the Chinese company's integrator.
Rush Dosi, a former Chinese official on the Biden National Security Council, said Patel's relationship with Shane was “really shocking” in a report that the FBI will focus on Chinese government influence operations in the US. “I wrote to X.
Asked about Doshi's criticism, a Patel spokesman highlighted comments from the candidate's confirmation hearing, and state security priorities include “CCP (Communist Party of China) spies through our country. “We've been ramping for five years.”
The spokesman also dismissed criticism coming from the Biden administration, saying it “stopped America fly the CCP balloon.” “This led the CCP to buy American farmland, which led to CCP fentanyl killing young Americans, the spokesman added.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday postponed a vote on whether Patel's nomination would be sent to the full Senate for confirmation following a debate from Democrats.
A Patel spokesman said it was “over the top,” including “countless meetings with the senators, disclosure and reporting on all revenue streams,” and testifying six hours before the Judiciary Committee.
“The Senate is evaluating all the potential conflicts and concerns,” the spokesman added that Patel is looking forward to being quickly confirmed by the committee vote on Thursday and the Senate.
If confirmed, Patel was accused of replacing Beijing's voice critic Christopher Ray, who was accused of promoting widespread espionage. China has repeatedly denied any involvement in espionage with the United States.
Ray, who was appointed Trump in 2017 and will serve for 10 years, resigned last month prior to the president's inauguration.
Sheen plowed funds for lobbying in western capitals, including Washington and London. It was because they tried to counter political and regulatory backlash over environmental records and supply chain practices.
The fashion group is about to list it in London in the coming weeks when it was rejected by US regulators. Last year, Rubio urged the UK to investigate whether Shane had used forced labor, noting that it failed to meet our listing requirements “due to concerns about unethical and irresponsible business practices.”
On Friday, Trump revised an executive order to revive tariff exemptions and vast customs checks on cargo under $800 when entering the United States. The grace will help the scene.
Shein is being challenged by Temu, a copycat platform that ships low-cost goods directly from China to US consumers. The group is trapped in a fierce battle over a legal battle between Chinese suppliers and the US.
In his financial disclosure, Patel also said he received revenue from the Epoch Times, an anti-CCP publication belonging to the opposition group Falun Gong.
Additional Reports by Ryan McMorrow of Beijing
