NEW: “Tough on China” Loeffler’s Business Interest AGAIN Caught Investing with Chinese State-Owned Company

After previously claiming that ICE sold their investment with a Chinese government-owned oil company, new report shows Loeffler’s company invested with the same state-owned firm

ATLANTA — New reporting by the AJC today reveals that after months of claiming she’s going to “hold China accountable,” unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler’s company ICE is instead once again investing with a Chinese government-run oil company — only weeks after her campaign claimed they were no longer financially involved.

In October, the AJC previously uncovered that despite Loeffler’s tough talk on China, her company ICE bought a stake in a firm that “was controlled by a state-run energy conglomerate run by Jiang Jiemen, a senior member of the Communist Party with close ties to Chinese leaders.” Loeffler’s husband and NYSE Chairman Jeff Sprecher even specifically talked about how he was “very, very excited about that particular footprint” because it was a joint venture with a Chinese company.

But while Loeffler’s team claimed at the time that ICE sold their stake in the firm “after the extent of its ties with the Chinese government became clear,” the AJC today reported that ICE “has another link to China” in the form of a futures exchange launched with the same Chinese government-owned oil company, PetroChina. And yet again, Sprecher praised the investment for giving ICE a way to get “deeper into Asia” despite Loeffler spending months on the campaign trail and millions in ad spending claiming she was going to “fight China.”

“Once again, Senator Kelly Loeffler is trying to have it both ways, pretending to be ‘tough on China’ in public while her and her husband’s company has repeatedly invested with a Chinese government-controlled firm connected to the Communist Party,” said Alex Floyd, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Senator Loeffler needs to quit the double-talk and get honest with Georgia voters about her company’s investments with the same Chinese government she repeatedly attacks on the campaign trail.”

AJC: “The Atlanta-based financial behemoth run by U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s husband Jeff Sprecher has another link to China.”

• We reported earlier that Intercontinental Exchange bought a 25% stake in a climate exchange firm based in China in 2010 before cutting ties a year later.

• In 2019, ICE launched a futures exchange with The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which partnered with several major energy firms, including Chinese-owned PetroChina Co.

• Sprecher called it a way to get “deeper into Asia.”

###