Close Menu
  • Business
  • Black Business
  • SMALL BUSINESS
  • BANK/FRAUD FINANCIAL CRIMES
  • Celebrities
  • CRYPTO
  • DEBT
  • Entrepreneur
  • ESTATE PLANNING
  • FRANCHISE
  • Gossip
  • GLOBAL ECONOMY
  • Music
  • MUTUAL FUNDS
  • Political
  • Pop Culture
  • PERSONAL FINANCE
  • Wall street
  • Privacy Policy
  • Business News Disclaimer
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Terms and Condition
What's Hot

Donald Trump Posts AI-Video of Him Dumping Feces On Protestors

How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force — ProPublica

Teacher education roadmap seeks to address specialization mismatch 

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Trending
  • Donald Trump Posts AI-Video of Him Dumping Feces On Protestors
  • How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force — ProPublica
  • Teacher education roadmap seeks to address specialization mismatch 
  • Dame Dash Explains Cam’ron Lawsuit: Contradictions Everywhere
  • Partynextdoor, G Herbo, & More
  • Tyler Perry Says Accuser ‘Needs Help’ Amid $260M Assault Case
  • Vic Mensa Accuses Trump Of Causing Division In Chicago
  • Stacey Abrams’ New Georgia Project Officially Dissolves
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
THE MIRROR OF MEDIA
  • Home
  • Accounting
  • Banking
  • Business
  • Political
  • Crypto
  • Real Estate
  • Ecommerce
  • Entrepreneur
  • Investment
  • More
    • Music
    • Gossip
    • Pop Culture
    • Wall street
    • IPO’S
    • Mortgage/Loans
    • Venture Capitalists/Angel Investors
THE MIRROR OF MEDIA
You are at:Home»Political»SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors: Company Insider — ProPublica
Political

SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors: Company Insider — ProPublica

adminBy adminNo Comments6 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Telegram LinkedIn Tumblr Email Reddit
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest WhatsApp Email


ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has taken money directly from Chinese investors, according to previously sealed testimony, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of the United States’ most important military contractors.

The recent testimony, coming from a SpaceX insider during a court case, marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the privately held company has been disclosed. While there is no prohibition on Chinese ownership in U.S. military contractors, such investment is heavily regulated and the issue is treated by the U.S. government as a significant national security concern.

“They obviously have Chinese investors to be honest,” Iqbaljit Kahlon, a major SpaceX investor, said in a deposition last year, adding that some are “directly on the cap table.” “Cap table” refers to the company’s capitalization table, which lists its shareholders.

Kahlon’s testimony does not reveal the scope of Chinese investment in SpaceX or the identities of the investors. Kahlon has long been close with the company’s leadership and runs his own firm that acts as a middleman for wealthy investors looking to buy shares of SpaceX.

SpaceX keeps its full ownership structure secret. It was previously reported that some Chinese investors had bought indirect stakes in SpaceX, investing in middleman funds that in turn owned shares in the rocket company. The new testimony describes direct investments that suggest a closer relationship with SpaceX.

SpaceX has thrived as it snaps up sensitive U.S. government contracts, from building spy satellites for the Pentagon to launching spacecraft for NASA. U.S. embassies and the White House have connected to the company’s Starlink internet service too. Musk’s roughly 42% stake in the company is worth an estimated $168 billion. If he owned nothing else, he’d be one of the 10 richest people in the world.

National security law experts said federal officials would likely be deeply interested in understanding the direct Chinese investment in SpaceX. Whether there was cause for concern would depend on the details, they said, but the U.S. government has asserted that China has a systematic strategy of using investments in sensitive industries to conduct espionage.

If the investors got access to nonpublic information about the company — say, details on its contracts or supply chain — it could be useful to Chinese intelligence, said Sarah Bauerle Danzman, an Indiana University professor who has worked for the State Department scrutinizing foreign investments. That “would create huge risks that, if realized, would have huge consequences for national security,” she said.

SpaceX did not respond to questions for this story. Kahlon declined to comment.

The new court records come from litigation in Delaware between Kahlon and another investor. The testimony was sealed until ProPublica, with the assistance of lawyers at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the law firm Shaw Keller, moved in the spring to make it public. SpaceX fought the effort, but a judge ruled that some of the records must be released. Kahlon’s testimony was publicly filed this week.

Buying shares in SpaceX is much more difficult than buying a piece of a publicly traded company like Tesla or Microsoft. SpaceX has control over who can buy stakes in it, and the company’s investors fall into different categories. The most rarefied group is the direct investors, who actually own SpaceX shares. This group includes funds led by Kahlon, Peter Thiel and a handful of other venture capitalists with personal ties to Musk. Then there are the indirect investors, who effectively buy stakes in SpaceX through a middleman like Kahlon. (The indirect investors are actually buying into a fund run by the middleman, typically paying a hefty fee.) All previously known Chinese investors in SpaceX fell into the latter category.

This year, ProPublica reported on an unusual feature of SpaceX’s approach to investment from China. According to testimony from the Delaware case, the company allows Chinese investors to buy stakes in SpaceX so long as the money is routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore secrecy hubs. Companies only have to proactively report Chinese investments to the government in limited circumstances, and there aren’t hard and fast rules for how much is too much.

After ProPublica’s report, House Democrats sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth raising alarms about the company’s “potential obfuscation.” “In light of the extreme sensitivity of SpaceX’s work for DoD and NASA, this lack of transparency raises serious questions,” they wrote. It’s unclear if any action was taken in response.

Kahlon has turned his access to SpaceX stock into a lucrative business. His investor list reads like an atlas of the world. The investors’ names are redacted in the recently unsealed document, but their addresses span from Chile to Malaysia. One is in Russia. At least two are in mainland China. One is in Qatar. (In one email to SpaceX’s chief financial officer, Kahlon said a Los Angeles-based fund had money from the Qatari royal family and was already invested in SpaceX.)

“You made a big fortune,” a China-based financier wrote to Kahlon four years ago. “Lol something like that. SpaceX has been the gift that keeps on giving,” Kahlon responded. “All thanks to you.”

Kahlon first met with SpaceX when it was a fledgling startup, according to court records. SpaceX’s CFO, Bret Johnsen, who’s been there for 14 years, testified that Kahlon “has been with the company in one form or fashion longer than I have.” Johnsen also testified that SpaceX has no formal policy about accepting investments from countries deemed adversaries by the U.S. government. But he said he asks fund managers to “stay away from Russian, Chinese, Iranian, North Korean ownership interest” because that could make it “more challenging to win government contracts.”

Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene

There are indications that by 2021, Kahlon was wary of raising funds from China. The U.S. government had grown increasingly concerned about Chinese investments in tech companies, and that June, Kahlon told an associate he was “being picky” with who he’d let buy into a new SpaceX opportunity. “Only people I want to have a relationship with long term. No one from mainland China,” Kahlon said.

But as he raced to assemble a pool of investors, those concerns appeared to fade away. By November 2021, Kahlon was personally raising money from China to buy SpaceX stakes. He told a Shanghai-based company that if it invested with him, it would get quarterly updates on SpaceX’s business development, “visits to SpaceX, and the opportunities to interview with Space X’s CFO,” court records show.

The Shanghai company ultimately sent Kahlon $50 million to invest in Musk’s business, according to court records. SpaceX had the deal canceled after the plan became public.

Do you have any information we should know about Elon Musk’s businesses? Justin Elliott can be reached by email at justin@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240. Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at joshua.kaplan@propublica.org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383.

Alex Mierjeski contributed research.



Source link

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Telegram Email
Previous ArticleOPM Director Russ Vought To Cut Billions In Green Energy Funds
Next Article Government Shutdown leads Trump to Freezes $28 Billion funds
admin
  • Website
  • Facebook

The most informative business website online.

Related Posts

How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force — ProPublica

Another Banner Week for White Supremacists

The A-List Turned on Marc Benioff. Now He's Sorry

Comments are closed.

Don't Miss
Pop Culture

Donald Trump Posts AI-Video of Him Dumping Feces On Protestors

Robert Nickelsberg / Donald Trump The bar continues to nose-dive regarding how low Donald Trump…

How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force — ProPublica

Teacher education roadmap seeks to address specialization mismatch 

Dame Dash Explains Cam’ron Lawsuit: Contradictions Everywhere

Partynextdoor, G Herbo, & More

Tyler Perry Says Accuser ‘Needs Help’ Amid $260M Assault Case

Vic Mensa Accuses Trump Of Causing Division In Chicago

Stacey Abrams’ New Georgia Project Officially Dissolves

Another Banner Week for White Supremacists

Sir David Attenborough, 99, becomes oldest Daytime Emmy winner

NBA YoungBoy Brings King Von’s Killer On Stage

Grambling It-Girlies Who Stunned At Homecoming 2025

PHOTOS: Rashmika Mandanna, Ayushmann Khurrana and More Attend Thamma’s Screening

Are MLS policies built for the ChatGPT era?

DJ Akademiks Told Drake To Move On From Kendrick Lamar

About Us
About Us

LewLewBiz delivers practical insights on entrepreneurship, finance, and business operations. Explore expert advice on payroll, landlord strategies, and industry news to empower your financial decisions and business growth.

We're accepting new partnerships right now.

Email Us: lewlewmedia@gmail.com
Contact: lewlewmedia@info.com

Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest YouTube WhatsApp
Our Picks

Donald Trump Posts AI-Video of Him Dumping Feces On Protestors

How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force — ProPublica

Teacher education roadmap seeks to address specialization mismatch 

Most Popular

The Last Confession

Young Dolph’s Alleged Killer Found Not Guilty

Puregold Channel’s Si Sol at si Luna looks at the realities of dating outside of your generation

© 2025 lewlewmedia since 2016
  • Business
  • Black Business
  • SMALL BUSINESS
  • BANK/FRAUD FINANCIAL CRIMES
  • Celebrities
  • CRYPTO
  • DEBT
  • Entrepreneur
  • ESTATE PLANNING
  • FRANCHISE
  • Gossip
  • GLOBAL ECONOMY
  • Music
  • MUTUAL FUNDS
  • Political
  • Pop Culture
  • PERSONAL FINANCE
  • Wall street
  • Privacy Policy
  • Business News Disclaimer
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Terms and Condition

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.