What is Joe Lonsdale’s Relationship to Chinese Communist Party Money Laundering?

For a guy who screams about the CCP all over CNBC and the internet, Joe Lonsdale seems to be taking money from the ‘bagman’ for the CCP…

What is Joe Lonsdale’s Relationship to Chinese Communist Party Money Laundering?

For a guy who screams about the CCP all over CNBC and the internet, Joe Lonsdale seems to be taking money from the ‘bagman’ for the CCP elite, Xiao Jianhua. I believe Joe Lonsdale is a national security threat and I’m calling on our government to fully investigate him.

Joe Lonsdale, of 8VC. Photo via 8VC website.

We’re going to cover a lot of ground here. Although the meat will focus on Joe Lonsdale, we’ll naturally have to spend some time on Andreessen Horowitz and their “American Dynamism” narrative as well.


Many in the Silicon Valley technosphere know Joe Lonsdale, or have at least heard the name. He was early on at Palantir, he runs a venture capital firm called 8VC out of Austin, Texas, he’s a satellite of some of the PayPal Mafia, and he’s constantly going on about how much he hates the Chinese Communist Party.

Seriously…if there’s one thing Joe Lonsdale wants you to know it’s that Joe Lonsdale hates communism and Joe Lonsdale especially hates the Chinese Communist Party. Hating the Chinese Communist Party is Joe Lonsdale’s entire personality.

https://blog.joelonsdale.com/p/a-note-on-equity-and-captured-institutions

Let’s follow some Chinese Communist Party laundered money…

Meet Xiao Jianhua

Of all the money launderers out there today, perhaps the most influential is Xiao Jianhua. As a student at Peking University during Tiananmen Square in 1989, Xiao sided with the Chinese Communist Party against his fellow students, finding a far more lucrative endeavor in moving around the money of the Chinese Communist Party’s wealthy as the Chinese Communist Party massacred China’s own citizens. For years, Xiao was the bagman for the CCP elite’s “off-the-books” transactions, including the very top ranks of the Chinese Communist Party.

Though he’d remained out of the media for a long time, his 2017 extraction from Hong Kong and subsequent cover up remains a mystery, reported at the time that he was abducted from a hotel, rolled out in a wheelchair, likely put on a boat, and delivered to Mainland China.

If there is one person who knows all the secrets of the Chinese Communist Party, all the dirt, with leverage over various players and factions within the CCP, it’s the guy who was laundering money around the world for them for years. Someone needed Xiao out of the picture.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/world/asia/xiao-jianhua-hong-kong-disappearance.html

Xiao allegedly remains detained in China, sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2022. It’s entirely possible he’s dead. It’s entirely possible he’s not even detained and is working behind-the-scenes with the CCP right now.

Whatever the case, Xiao is a dangerous person, as are those tied to his money laundering operations.

But where is all of Xiao’s money he was managing? Where is all this Chinese Communist Party money?

The Canadian-American Shell Game of Chinese Family Offices and Venture Capital Funds

Here’s where we’re going to get weird, baby.

You thought a Chinese Communist Party bagman getting abducted out of a hotel in a wheelchair, likely drugged, then extradited to Mainland China was weird? What happened to all the money Xiao was moving around? Surely someone wants it back.

Let’s lay some groundwork with some journalism already done on this topic.

Bloomberg’s Piece

Bloomberg ran a great piece on September 5, 2022 asking our question: “So where did all of the money managed by Xiao go after he was taken?”

At the center of this piece are two women in Xiao’s family:

  • His wife, Zhou Hongwen
  • Her sister, Zhou Liwen

Zhou Liwen is a director of WinnerMax Capital, Xiao’s family office which was created in Toronto just weeks after Xiao’s abduction, and a director of RedJay Asset Management, with ties to venture capital firms J17 Capital and Sixty Degree Capital and real estate arm WinnerMax Property.

Here in the United States, there is the related Alpha Square Group.

Interestingly, Bloomberg’s journalist Blake Schmidt who wrote the piece seems to have gone on leave shortly after this piece was published on September 5, 2022.

His LinkedIn profile lists him as “On leave from covering Asian megafortunes based in Hong Kong.”

Image from LinkedIn taken August 1, 2024.

Global News’ Piece

Now we get even weirder.

On February 28, 2022 Canada’s Global News published an article asking our question: “So where did all of the money managed by Xiao go after he was taken?”

Today, with the image below taken August 1, 2024, we can see someone’s name was scrubbed off the article and an editor’s note prefacing the article.

As of August 1, 2024

However, using the Wayback Machine, we can see that when the article was first published on February 28, 2022 there were two authors.

I would highly recommend reading this article.

Via https://globalnews.ca/news/8637896/xiao-jianhua-family-companies-150-million-toronto-real-estate/

The Joe Lonsdale and Andreessen Horowitz Connections to Xiao

Of this vast array of companies and entities in Xiao’s network, the one that may stand out as the largest risk to United States national security may be Ontario-based venture capital firm J17 Capital.

Now, we know Joe Lonsdale says he hates the Chinese Communist Party more than anything.

So why, then, on the website of J17 Capital is Joe Lonsdale’s venture capital firm 8VC listed as an investment of J17 Capital, alongside Andreessen Horowitz? Why does a J17 Capital employee named Sky Lai claim on his LinkedIn to be an LP of 8VC and Andreessen Horowitz?

Image from Aug 1, 2024. https://j17capital.com/
J17 Capital employee and LP of a16z and 8VC Sky Lai https://www.linkedin.com/in/skylai/

It’s simple. Joe Lonsdale is on the take of the Chinese Communist Party.

This is important because not only is Joe Lonsdale financing defense and government contract companies, but he’s also actively involved in running them.

For example, he’s a founder of Epirus and currently sits on its Board as he chases US military contracts.

Via https://a16z.com/american-dynamism-50/

A Full Sweep is Needed in Silicon Valley

On the securities side, and ignoring the Canadian real estate and only focusing on the tech/venture investments, it’s easy to see how Xiao’s New York-based Alpha Square Group acts as a clearing agent for their other investments made by Xiao’s Canadian entities, marking up valuations with subsequent equity financing or buying out secondary shares. Xiao’s network feeds money into Andreessen Horowitz as an LP through their Canadian entity J17 Capital or just invests direct into end companies themselves, and later on they come in through their Alpha Square Group entity.

Numerous investments listed on Alpha Square’s website of portfolio companies are also Andreessen Horowitz investments. It’s the same money backstopping the same money, with a Canadian fund feeding Andreessen Horowitz and an American fund coming in after Andreessen Horowitz to mark up the deal or buy equity. It seems Xiao’s network is doing quite a lot of favors to give Andreessen Horowitz good marks and liquidity.

Even more important than the good old fashion round trip of laundered Chinese money between American and Canadian entities is the sheer amount of defense contracting products that are promoted by Joe Lonsdale and Andreessen Horowitz, specifically a16z’s “American Dynamism” partners David Ulevitch and Katherine Boyle.

Katherine Boyle is constantly screaming about the Chinese Communist Party as well, and like with Joe Lonsdale her firm takes money directly from J17 Capital in the Xiao Jianhua network.

It’s time for a full sweep of all Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

This goes beyond Democrat vs. Republican politics. Our national security is too important to leave in the hands of used car salesman VCs playing “army” on Xiao’s money laundering payroll.

Joe Lonsdale and Katherine Boyle need to answer for what their relationship is with J17 Capital and its related Xiao Jianhua CCP money laundering network.