A Democratic megadonor who helped pressure President Joe Biden to pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris is holding on to hundreds of millions of dollars in lucrative Chinese investments, according to new financial disclosures.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist and billionaire Michael Moritz donated $7.8 million to political action committees that supported Harris in the 2024 election against President-elect Donald Trump, Federal Election Commission filings show. Throughout fiscal 2023, Moritz also poured $121 million into his California-based Crankstart Foundation, a tax-exempt group steering his wealth that recently disclosed Chinese holdings and grantmaking for China-based programs.
The nonprofit funding, detailed on the Crankstart Foundation’s tax forms filed with the IRS late last year, is less of a surprise given that Moritz, 70, has touted the ease of doing business in China while previously spearheading the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital’s expansion into China. But the Crankstart Foundation’s sprawling investments in Chinese Sequoia offshoots illustrate how nonprofit groups in the United States in some cases rely on foreign adversary-linked accounts to boost their assets — even amid simmering tensions between Beijing and Washington.
“Here you have an American making money off a rival that has a stated purpose of defeating the U.S.,” said Hayden Ludwig, the director of policy research at the Republican-aligned Restoration of America advocacy group. “Then, he’s using these earnings to try to elect Democrats in Washington. This is why Congress needs to take a good look at foreign influence in our elections.”
It is not unlawful for U.S.-based nonprofit groups to maintain investments in funds tied to other countries, including China. Still, amid surging competition between the U.S. and China, as well as significant congressional scrutiny into China’s financial foothold in the U.S., domestic entities are facing increased pressure to avoid the appearance of boosting Beijing. A constellation of foundations funded by wealthy progressives have a track record of backing Chinese government-linked groups, while the U.S. government has also come under the spotlight for Chinese funding.
During fiscal 2023, Moritz’s foundation notably steered half a million dollars to a Chinese climate program managed by the Environmental Defense Fund, a New York-based charity that worked diligently to promote the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda. The EDF has an office in Beijing and previously reeled in $1.5 million from the foundation backed by Moritz, who was one of the loudest voices in Silicon Valley last year urging Biden to exit the 2024 race.
The Crankstart Foundation, which he launched in 2000 and sits on $3.9 million in assets, disclosed 17 separate investments in Chinese funds, tax records show. The funds are connected to the Chinese offshoot of Sequoia, which is a separate entity and was rebranded to the name HongShan.
HongShan Capital Advisors Limited has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, according to its website. The company lists investments such as BYD, a manufacturing conglomerate said to have close links to China’s military, and Alibaba, the e-commerce giant reported to share ties to China’s human rights abuses.
HongShan’s finances haven’t been without scrutiny in Congress. In February of last year, the House Select Committee on China released a report that said the company and other venture capital firms directed at least $3 billion to Chinese military-linked technology companies.
“Sequoia Capital China has also invested in companies that facilitate the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses, such as sanctioned Peoples Republic of China drone maker DJI, whose products enable the repression and genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” the committee said as part of its investigation.
“It has also invested in DeepGlint, whose facial recognition technology is used by the CCP to control the Uyghur population and to power the PRC’s techno-totalitarian surveillance state and which was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department in 2021,” lawmakers added. “In addition, Sequoia Capital China and Sequoia Capital have both provided extensive support and capital to ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, helping it to raise billions of U.S. dollars. TikTok exposes millions of Americans to CCP surveillance and influence.”
Crankstart’s net investment income in its last fiscal year was $239 million, according to financial disclosures. Meanwhile, as Moritz’s foundation placed bets in China, he upped his political giving this election.
During the 2024 cycle, Moritz donated $6.8 million to the American Bridge PAC, which spent money on advertisements opposing Trump. He also gave $1 million to the Lincoln Project, the anti-Trump group that boosted Harris and has been mired in controversy.
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Moritz made donations in past election cycles to the likes of the Democratic National Committee, Barack Obama, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), according to federal filings.
The Crankstart Foundation did not reply to a request for comment.
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