A technological company in difficulty that has links with China and is based on Tiktok has made an unusual announcement this week. He had obtained funding to buy up to $ 300 million in $ Trump, the so-called memecoin marketed by President Trump.
GD Culture Group, a listed company with a Chinese subsidiary, has only eight employees, its public public documents and registered zero income last year from an electronic commerce company that it operates on Tiktok, the video sharing application belonging to Chinese.
But Monday, GD Culture Group became the last company with foreign links to seize the Crypto company of Mr. Trump, which channels the profits directly to the Trump family and generated conflicts of interest that alarmed ethics experts. (Samecoins like $ Trump is a type of cryptocurrency based on an online joke or a celebrity mascot and has traditionally not had any use beyond speculation.)
In his statement, GD Culture Group, which is negotiated on the NASDAQ, said that it would spend $ 300 million on a Bitcoin and $ Trump stock, using the product of a share sale to an anonymous entity in the British Virgin Islands, a popular tax haven. He confirmed that the investment plan in a securities deposit on Tuesday evening.
The purchase would create clear ethical conflicts, enriching Mr. Trump’s family at the same time as the president tries to conclude an agreement that would allow Tiktok to continue to operate in the United States rather than to face a prohibition approved by the Congress.
The announcement also shows how investors around the world, including some who have practically no public footprint, hung on to the president’s crypto companies to stimulate their own commercial perspectives.
Simply affirming a link with Mr. Trump’s activities can quickly enhance the profile of a business. The GD Culture Group in difficulty increased by 12% on Monday, before losing these gains the next day.
“Make no mistake. These foreign entities and governments obviously want to create the favor of the president,” said former representative Charles Dent, a Republican from Pennsylvania who was the president of the Chamber’s ethics committee. “This is completely out of the limits and raises all kinds of ethical, legal and constitutional issues that must be addressed.”
Investors in foreign countries have rushed to fill up on $ Trump’s play since he hit the market in January. Some explicitly said they hoped to use their purchases to influence Trump.
GD Culture Group was less clear about his intentions. In its declaration, the company said that it wanted to “improve its assessment with high -performance evolutionary digital assets.”
But any purchase of GD Culture Group would be the first known example of a company linked to China Buying Mecoin by Mr. Trump. In its financial disclosure, the company noted that its subsidiary, Shanghai Xianzhui, could be influenced by requests from the Chinese government, although this is not an unusual wording for a Chinese company.
“The Chinese government can intervene or influence its operations at any time,” said the company in an annual report lodged in March.
In recent weeks, the Trump family has faced an intensive reaction in Washington for its trade relations with foreign countries.
Tuesday, in the Senate, Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, spent 20 minutes traveling the various sources of money abroad paying in the family business Trump, including the same, a real estate agreement involving the government of Qatar and a encrypting agreement of 2 billion dollars separated with a company supported by the United Arab Emirates.
“If a mayor of a small town sold meetings at the town hall per thousand dollars, he would be short of the city on a rail, but that’s exactly what Donald Trump does in the Middle East and all over the world,” said Murphy.
Representatives of the White House, the Trump organization and the GD culture group did not respond to requests for comments.
Trump started selling the $ Trump room three days before his inauguration, one of the many cryptographic companies he and his sons have continued. The price of the part has briefly increased, then crashed just as quickly, costing investors from billions of dollars.
Last month, Trump and his business partners announced that the 220 best buyers in the play would be invited to a dinner with the president of his golf club in Virginia, causing another frantic trade series that enriched the Trump family. An analysis of the New York Times and the Nansen Crypto Criminaltics firm revealed that many buyers of the play were based abroad in countries such as Mexico, Singapore and Australia.
Under the federal law, foreign investors are prohibiting donating a political campaign or an inaugural fund of a president. But Crypto Ventures of Mr. Trump offered a new avenue to these foreign buyers to support him financially.
In April, a maritime firm based in Mexico, FR8Tech, announced that it would spend $ 20 million for Mr. Trump as a means of “defending the good, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the United States”
GD Culture Group’s declaration has not mentioned any policy of policy. Xiaojian Wang, the CEO, said that the company adopted “industrial transformation” through cryptocurrencies and moved to “strengthen our financial foundation”.
We did not know how GD Culture Group had obtained funding to buy hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto. In its declaration, the company has not revealed any information on the British Virgin Islands entity which agreed to buy its actions.
In his file with the SEC Tuesday, GD Culture Group confirmed his $ Trump purchase plans – but once again omitted any information on the entity that finances the purchase.
Historically, the British virgin islands were a favorite court for foreign investors who seek to maintain confidentiality, because it is easy to install a screen company there.
Matthew Goldstein Contributed reports.
