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Mother Jones: Sen. Rick Scott Says He’s a China Hawk. But He’s Made Lots of Money With China-Related Investments
Yesterday, Mother Jones revealed that Rick Scott had significant financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese economy, and the Chinese government’s human rights violations. The news of his financial portfolio casts real doubt on Scott’s claim to be an aggressive voice in stopping American business with China and shows Floridians that they can’t trust him to look out for their interests over his own personal bank account.
Of course, it’s no surprise that the man whose company committed $1.7 billion of Medicare fraud, tried to speak out of both sides of his mouth. What’s good for Scott’s business, isn’t good for his brand to voters.
- Contrary to the image he now eagerly projects as a fierce China hawk looking to ban business with China, Scott […] has a long record of supporting Chinese investment in the United States and personally making money off Chinese commerce.
- When JinkoSolar [a Chinese solar firm] announced it would build a new state-of-the-art solar panel manufacturing facility in Jacksonville [in 2018], Scott took credit for this and declared, “Florida’s economy is on a roll.” City and state tax incentives for the JinkoSolar plant totaled $4.2 million.
- A few months later, the Sarasota Herald- Tribune reported the deal with this Chinese firm “could pad Scott’s vast, personal bottom line.” The paper noted that he was an investor in a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, the parent of utility giant Florida Power & Light. And NextEra had said it planned to purchase 7 million solar panels from JinkoSolar over the following four years.
- Two years after selling his NextEra holdings, Scott introduced a bill called the “Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act” to prohibit federal funds from being used to buy solar panels manufactured or assembled in China, specifically the Xinjiang province, which has been known as a site of forced labor camps.
- [Scott and his wife] reported on his 2022 financial disclosure form that their family earned at least $4 million from their holdings in Gainline Capital Partners, which owned a handful of companies, including Galaxy Universal, a footwear company, and Core Health & Fitness, a maker of fitness equipment. Both of these firms manufacture products in China. (In 2018, Core Health announced it was shifting much of its manufacturing to China.)
- There’s no public indication that Scott, who has strived to be the Senate’s top China-basher, made efforts to steer clear of China when it came to making money.