Trump shredded for cozying up to shady Chinese firm despite past tough talk on China

Back in October, former President Donald Trump announced the launch of the Trump Media & Technology Group, which he said is intended to compete with platforms like Netflix and Twitter. But as the New York Times reported a week after the launch, the $300 million Trump secured for his launch came after he ventured into "an unregulated and sometimes shadowy corner of Wall Street."

Writing for MSNBC this Monday, Steve Benen says that the shadowy corner included a "Chinese investment firm with a curious record."

"A few years ago, for example, the firm helped create a company called Atlas Technology International, and it claimed in its Securities and Exchange Committee filing to be a company that made cupcakes. Soon after, Atlas filed a new annual report, saying it had made the transition from cupcakes to touch-screen devices, which was a bit odd," Benen writes. "The same folks behind that operation — a Chinese firm called Arc Capital — said they also ran a smart-phone sales company in south Florida, which did not appear to have ever sold anything to anyone at any time. They also claimed to have a drone software company, which somehow existed without any employees."

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According to the SEC, the companies were basically fake, which is problematic since in the U.S., fake companies are not supposed to be publicly traded.

"It's quite a marriage, isn't it? On the one hand, there's Trump, who's been accused of running fraudulent operations such as Trump University and the Trump Foundation, while on the other hand, there's a Chinese firm that's also been accused of launching highly dubious operations," Benen writes.

Read the full article over at MSNBC.