Brother-in-law of top Dem senator played key role in recruiting Chinese firms to deep blue city
FIRST ON FOX: The brother-in-law of a top Democratic senator has repeatedly hosted diplomats working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at his office and recruited multiple Chinese businesses to lease office space as part of his family's sprawling real estate empire, a Fox News Digital review found.
Anthony "Tony" Malkin is the Harvard-educated brother-in-law of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and the chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., which includes nearly 600 tenants and 732 residential units. He has hosted multiple consuls general of the People's Republic of China in New York dating back over 15 years and reportedly traveled to China to recruit companies to lease office space in New York City.
In 2011, Chinese state media outlet China Daily published a profile piece on Chinese companies helping boost office rentals overseas in the United States. Malkin, the brother of Sen. Blumenthal's wife, Cynthia, was featured in the profile that noted how he "recently visited China to find tenants, hoping to benefit from the previous flood of Chinese buyers of commercial housing who are now spilling into the office rental market."
The profile piece continued by highlighting how Malkin "secured leases" with multiple Chinese companies, including state-owned Air China LTD, Hong-Kong-based telecommunications company PCCW-HKT DataCom Services Ltd, and People's Daily Online, which is controlled by People's Daily, the Chinese propaganda network directly run by the CCP's Central Committee, according to the China Media Project.
The China Media Project went on to highlight how People's Daily Online "runs the Chinese Communist Party News Network" and requires applicants applying for jobs to "[love] the party," which refers to the CCP.
"People's Daily Online left its space at the Empire State Building nearly a decade ago," an Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) spokesperson told Fox News Digital about the former tenant's lease. "Air China, which is defined as a publicly traded company that is partially owned by the Chinese government, has an office at the Empire State Building, but is only about 3,000 square feet in the 7.8 million square feet of our office portfolio."
However, a multinational Hong Kong-based group called Li & Fung Ltd, whose chairman has multiple CCP ties, reportedly rented the largest office space from Malkin, according to the 2011 China Daily article. While Li & Fung no longer has the largest office space, it is still currently a tenant of the ESRT, according to financial data reviewed by Fox News Digital. A 2024 ESRT report lists the Chinese company occupying over 149,000 square feet, having multiple leases ending in October 2028 and an annual rent of over $8.3 million.
A Fox News Digital review found that Victor Fung, who has played an instrumental leadership role for several years with the company that his grandfather founded, was a longtime member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) between 2003 and 2018 and is currently serving as a vice chairman of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). He was also reportedly one of the business executives who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year to lay out his vision for Hong Kong becoming a supply chain center for Chinese businesses.
The CPPCC is the "key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation" under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website. CUSEF is the CCP front group founded by Tung Chee-hwa, who served as a vice chair of the CPPCC and has colluded with U.S. leaders to gain influence. Fox News Digital previously exposed how Julia Wilson, a Black public relations consultant, was paid over $1 million by Chee-hwa's CUSEF to help the Chinese government learn about Black Americans and gain influence with Black universities and leaders.
In addition to securing these leases, Malkin reportedly launched a "China business desk" in an attempt to keep up with the demand of Chinese businesses and was "cooperating with Chinese tour groups," which was seen as a lucrative business opportunity. However, an ESRT spokesperson pushed back and claimed, "Mr. Malkin had never seen this 2011 article" and added that the quote in the story "is not part of any attributed quote, and not something Mr. Malkin or Malkin Holdings ever did."
The ESRT spokesperson continued by pointing out that China was a "large growth market" in 2011 for inbound tourism and that Malkin's business trip to China revolved around that, adding, "On behalf of our stakeholders, ESRT will always from around the world solicit tenants and tourists."
The China National Tourism Office of New York, which was under the control of China National Tourism Administration, a state-owned travel agency that had overseas offices in several countries and was previously in coordination with the CCP's chief administrative State Council authority, used to be located in the Empire State Building in the early 2000s until it appeared to have moved locations in 2009. Malkin was the president of Malkin Holdings LLC, the predecessor to Empire State Realty Trust's REIT, when this office was operating in the Empire State Building.
Sen. Blumenthal's office told Fox News Digital that the Connecticut senator "has absolutely nothing to do with any of this."
"Senator Blumenthal's wife is one of literally thousands of shareholders in a publicly traded real estate company, and just like the rest of those shareholders, she doesn't have control over anything this company does. Senator Blumenthal has absolutely nothing to do with any of this," Blumenthal spokesperson Maria McElwain said.
"Senator Blumenthal supports a ban on Members of Congress and their spouses as well as the Vice President and President from holding individual stocks," she continued. "He also voted in favor of the STOCK Act, and supports more stringent measures to further eliminate conflicts of interest."
In addition to Blumenthal's brother-in-law leasing out rental space to Chinese companies, he has repeatedly given a major platform to multiple Chinese diplomats working in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government over the last 15-plus years.
In November, the newly-installed Chinese Consul General Chen Li, who was recently photographed posing with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and anti-Trump Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, posted on his X account that he met with Malkin and looked forward to "working with Tony to promote connections and friendship between our peoples!"
A couple of months later, Chen posted photos and a video of the Empire State Building and touted how "NYC's icon will Turn CHINESE RED for the 25th consecutive year TONIGHT!"
Chen, like his predecessor Huang Ping, has repeatedly praised the CCP and denied China's alleged genocide against the Uyghur population, which has been condemned by many on the world stage, including the United Nations. Malkin also had a cozy relationship with Ping while he served as the Chinese consul general between 2018 and late 2024.
Michael Sobolik, an expert on U.S.-China relations and a Hudson Institute senior fellow, told Fox News Digital that the "Chinese Communist Party is always looking for ways to penetrate U.S. businesses and civil society. We shouldn't make their job easier for them."
Ping's exit from the position occurred shortly after he was referenced dozens of times in an unsealed indictment against Gov. Kathy Hochul's former deputy chief of staff, Linda Sun, who was charged "with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy," according to a Justice Department press release.
The indictment revealed then-Lt. Gov. Hochul wanted to mention the "Uyghur situation" in China for her 2021 Lunar New Year message, but the plight of the minority group being persecuted by the Chinese government was ultimately omitted after Sun overruled the speechwriter.
The indictment alleges Sun revealed to Ping what the speechwriter wanted to include, but insisted that she would not let her boss mention Uyghurs after admitting that she was "starting to lose her temper" with the speechwriter. The indictment later detailed other exchanges she had with Ping and said he gifted her parents with Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by his chef in exchange for her help in influencing the governor's policies.
Fox News Digital pressed Blumenthal's office on whether the senator, who has been a key voice on Uyghur human rights issues, was concerned about his brother-in-law recruiting Chinese businesses to New York and partnering with CCP diplomats who have denied Uyghur genocide. However, his spokesperson did not address this in the office's response.
When asked about Malkin's relationship with the Chinese consuls general, an ESRT spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "Throughout its nearly 94-year history, the Empire State Building has partnered with countless government organizations, charities, and companies to celebrate important international celebrations and events.
"The Lunar New Year lighting of the Empire State Building, for example, has been celebrated for more than 15 years in partnership with the local Chinese consulate and local Chinese organizations, shops, bakeries, and teahouses," the spokesperson added.
Ping and Malkin have met several times, including an October 2021 virtual meeting that revolved around cooperation between the United States and China, according to a press release from the Chinese Consulate General, which noted their relationship with the Empire State Building dates back to 2008.
"Malkin said the pandemic has dramatically changed the world and the U.S., which also highlights the significance of international cooperation to meet challenges. The enhancement of cultural exchanges really matters to the U.S.-China relations," the press release continued. "Hope the two peoples can overcome obstacles and deepen mutual understanding by exchanges and communications. I am willing to keep on working closely with Mr. Consul General as well as the Chinese Consulate General in New York, contributing to the friendship between the two peoples."
In 2023, the Chinese Consulate shared multiple photos of Ping and Malkin at the Empire State Building with the caption, "Chinese Consulate General in NY and [Empire State Building] held a Chinese New Year Lighting Ceremony today, to celebrate the [Year of the Rabbit] CG Huang Ping and ESB Chairman Mr. Anthony Malkin attended the event and together lit up the building with Chinese Red."
Malkin and Ping also met in 2019 to light up the Empire State Building in honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which was amplified by Chinese state media.
Prior to Ping serving as the Chinese consul general, Malkin repeatedly met with then-Consul General Zhang Qiyue, who previously served in several top CCP positions, including the deputy director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2017, Qiyue and Malkin smilingly posed for a photo ahead of the lighting of the Empire State Building to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. They also met in 2015 and 2016 to light up the Empire State Building to celebrate the Lunar New Year, a Fox News Digital review found.
Sun Guoxiang, who served as a consul general between 2011 and 2014 in New York and held multiple CCP titles, also repeatedly visited the Empire State Building. In a 2014 ESRT press release, the group said, "To kick-off the festivities, Ambassador Sun Guoxiang, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in New York, will preside over a lighting ceremony." Jean-Yves Ghazi, who currently serves as the president of the ESRT Observatory TRS, L.L.C., appears to have been the ESRT executive who oversaw that lighting.
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