Top Biden Adviser’s Brother Lobbying For Tech Firms Linked To Huawei And Chinese Military.
The brother of President Joe Biden’s White House Counselor Steve Ricchetti is lobbying on behalf of tech companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The unearthed connections follow reports Jeff Ricchetti’s lobbying firm’s revenue – sourced heavily from the pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – has quintupled since Biden became president.
Jeff Ricchetti has represented Interdigital since late 2020, with his most recent disclosure revealing the company paid him $50,000 for his work from January through March. Interdigital inked a licensing agreement with Huawei Technologies in 2020, as outlined by Reuters:
“In a regulatory filing, InterDigital said the licensing agreement runs through 2023, and covers royalties from the sale of some of Huawei’s 3G, 4G and 5G wireless telecommunications products.”
Huawei has extensive links to both the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, prompting the U.S. State Department to identify it as an “arms of the state – or, more precisely, the Chinese Communist Party.” Labeled a “national security threat” by the Trump administration and a decades-long Chinese military collaborator by the U.S. Department of Defense, Huawei routinely provides the Chinese Communist Party backdoor access to its products, networks, and devices.
Jeff Ricchetti has also been an active lobbyist for Applied Materials, Inc. since November 2020, and his firm’s most recent filing reveals a $60,000 contract for work from January to March. In addition to operating its semiconductor business in China, Applied Materials has been identified as working with Chinese tech firms banned by the Trump administration such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
