Democrat Squad member Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) reportedly poured thousands of campaign money into a Chinese-owned news corporation that is registered as a foreign agent.
Reps. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Grace Meng (D-N.Y), and Nicole Malliotakis (R.-N.Y.) joined AOC in sending funds to Sing Tao U.S., a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd, for advertising expenses during the midterm election cycle and publishes Chinese-language newspapers in multiple American cities.
According to a review of campaign finance records obtained by Fox News Digital, AOC paid the foreign agents $1,500 for advertising, while Mullin, Meng, and Malliotakis paid anywhere between $1,000 and $7,000 to the Chinese company, which the Department of Justice forced them to register as a Chinese foreign agent in August 2021.
The money was used to pay for advertising expenses to include campaign messages in cities including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The newspaper is considered to be pro-Beijing, however, Sing Tao U.S. has vowed to remain free from Chinese Communist Party influence.
This comes as heightened tensions rise between Beijing and Washington as the Department of Justice aims to crack down on China’s influence in the U.S.
When the Justice Department required Sing Tao to register as a foreign agent, the company argued that it was "similarly situated to other for-profit media companies operating in the United States."
While Sing Tao U.S. distances itself from the CCP movement, China still is known to this day to have one of the world’s most restrictive media environments that solely relies on censorship and monitoring what people in their country can hear and watch.