A company connected to Sen. Darline Graham’s husband has ties to a Chinese weapons supplier sanctioned by the United States for helping Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a new report.
The connection adds to scrutiny of the South Carolina Republican’s husband, Larry Nordone, whose employer’s links to Chinese manufacturing were previously reported by the Washington Post.
“It was an embarrassing enough revelation for the campaign, but the friction between her husband’s career and her stated politics, it turns out, goes significantly further than that,” Drop Site News reporter Ryan Grim wrote Wednesday.
Nordone is a senior executive at Cosmox North America, a subsidiary of Cosmox Outdoors. The parent company merged with Chinese weapons manufacturer Zhongzhou Machinery Works, or ZZM, in 2021, according to the report.
ZZM previously listed Poly Technologies and Norinco as partners and clients. Poly Technologies was sanctioned in 2024 for supplying military technology to Russia, Grim reported — a connection he described as “in blatant contrast to the Graham family’s staunch support for Ukraine.”
Graham succeeded her late brother, Lindsey Graham, a prominent Ukraine supporter. She faces Democrat Annie Andrews in next week's high-stakes South Carolina Senate race.
After questions from the post, ZZM removed the defense companies’ names from its website, Drop Site News reported Wednesday.
Graham’s campaign, Cosmox and ZZM did not respond to the outlet’s questions.
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