Seth Wenig/AP
In March, the politerati were atwitter over what appeared major news: Longtime political operator, lobbyist, wheeler-dealer, and (pardoned) felon Paul Manafort was in talks to join Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. This seemed an odd move, given all of Manafort’s schemings over the years. A more recent Manafort business venture—unknown to the public—raises further questions about him and his attempt to return to the Trump fold. According to documents obtained by Mother Jones—including a memo written by Manafort—two years ago, Manafort was trying to orchestrate a $250 million deal to create a streaming service in China in a project that he asserted was blessed by the Chinese government and that was partnering with a Chinese telecommunications firm sanctioned by the US government.
On Friday morning, the Washington Post, which obtained the same documents, broke the news of Manafort’s involvement in this endeavor.
Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager for part of 2016—until Trump dumped him after allegations emerged that Manafort had pocketed $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments a few years earlier from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine. (His lawyer denied he had received this money.) Two years later, as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump-Russia scandal, Manafort was found guilty of and pleaded guilty to assorted financial crimes related to his consulting work in Ukraine, including bank fraud and conspiring to defraud the United States. He was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison and sent off to the hoosegow. (He was released to home confinement during the Covid pandemic.) In 2020, a bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee declared Manafort a “grave counterintelligence threat,” revealing that during the 2016 race he had repeatedly passed Trump campaign inside information to a former business associate who was a “Russian intelligence officer” and a “Kremlin agent.” In his final weeks in the White House, Trump pardoned Manafort.
In the years since Trump cleaned his slate, Manafort has mostly maintained a low public profile. During part of that stretch, he privately endeavored to facilitate a huge deal in China. Emails and memos show that in May 2022 Manafort was working with a privately-held Hong Kong-based company called Standard Huaxia Limited to set up a new streaming company in China dubbed Doorways. Manafort and his colleagues were looking to raise an initial $25 million for the project that Manafort noted was seeking $250 million.
A memo written (according to its meta-data) by Manafort described Doorways as a firm that would distribute in China “several kinds of content covering the entire spectrum of intangible products related to culture, including music, television and film entertainment, news and education.” You can read the full document below.
This memo stated the “Chinese Govt has agreed to endorse and support the development of Doorways in a variety of ways with the plan to take the company public within 18 months from launch,” and it maintained, “Doorways will be the first [joint venture] Chinese-American company to be involved in ownership and operation of a major internet vehicle in China.”
As Manafort put it in this memo, this enterprise was historic and would circumvent China’s traditional animosity to such internet titans as Google, WhatsApp, and YouTube: “This deal has been created, authorized and supported at the highest levels of the Chinese govt.” He noted that Doorways was advantageously positioned due to the “history of the principal’s involvement with [the] very top of Chinese leadership.” He did not identify this principle. He added, “China felt time was ripe to open doors to western technology in [joint venture] that serves their domestic consumer market needs.”
Manafort made it seem this was a killer deal. “Doorways,” he wrote, “has exclusive and primary right to distribute specific western and domestic entertainment, music and educational content over internet from a complex set of agreements…at levels above SOEs”—a reference to state-owned enterprises. This suggested the project was well-wired at the upper ranks of the Chinese regime.
Manafort claimed in the memo that there was already in place an agreement with China Mobile, China’s largest wireless carrier. He noted that China Mobile had agreed to bundle Doorways into its service for a dollar a month, which “guarantees instant massive market penetration from day 1.” He added that the China Mobile contract “is finalized and ready to be signed.” Manafort estimated Doorways could rake in $2.9 billion dollar during its first year.
China Mobile, though, had come under fire in the United States for its supposed ties to the Chinese military. In January 2021, the Trump administration issued an executive order banning American investment in Chinese firms believed to be associated with the People’s Liberation Army. Subsequently, China Mobile was delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. In March 2022, the Federal Communications designated the US subsidiary of China Mobile a national security threat.
In the memo, Manafort pointed out that investment money was necessary to “finalize the last mile to launch.” The minimum need was $3 million to $5 million, he wrote, stating that Doorways was “currently finalizing” a $25 million investment “with commitments” for an additional $250 million.
Manafort’s memo does not specify which Chinese officials or agencies were supposedly involved in this venture. In an email sent to a potential investor brought in by Manafort, Michael McCutcheon, the vice president of Standard Huaxia, stated that the Doorways project was associated with a “Television Series on Corruption,” which would be a “partnership with the Central Government.”
In an interview with Mother Jones, McCutcheon noted that the Doorways project has been under way since 2018 and that while it has not come to fruition, “we’re still working on it.” He confirmed his company was working with high-level Chinese officials. He added, “We’re very close to being successful.” He said that Manafort’s involvement was “limited to introducing parties in the United States”—that is, lining up investors. (One businessman whom Manafort put in touch with Standard Huaxia was quite interested, McCutcheon remarked, but he died.) According to McCutcheon, Manafort had “no involvement in our relationships in China.” Asked how Manafort hooked up with the Doorways venture, McCutcheon said, “I don’t know.” He also said he didn’t know whether Manafort had succeeded in bringing in any investors.
In an email to the Washington Post, Manafort said he was “not involved with China” and has “had nothing to do with China, including Chinese businesses, government, individuals, or anything else.” He acknowledged that he “was asked to make introductions to U.S. studios and potential U.S. partners in the venture.”
McCutcheon told the Post that the unidentified “principal” with ties to the Chinese government referenced in Manafort’s memo was Frederick Tayton Dencer, a California businessman who had worked on commercial deals in China. Dencer, according to the newspaper, was extradited from Mexico and arrested in Los Angeles in 2012 after allegedly jumping bail on fraud and other charges related to a case in Alabama that was eventually dismissed. McCutcheon also noted that China Mobile was no longer part of the Doorways project.
It’s notable that a former Trump adviser—who says he was in touch with the Trump crew during the 2020 election and who might again be in Trump’s inner circle—was looking to pocket a large amount of money through a deal involving the Chinese regime. While pursuing this China venture, Manafort had a book in the works that would be published in August 2022. It was an account of his travails and a celebration of Trump. In its pages, he hailed Trump’s rhetorical assaults on the “swamp” and Trump’s so-called “America First” stance which often entails slamming China. Manafort derided elites. He decried Joe Biden’s son Hunter for his business activity related to China. He wrote nothing about his moves to enrich himself via a venture in cahoots with the Chinese government.
Here’s the Manafort document:
DOORWAYS – NEW STREAMING COMPANY IN CHINA
- BUSINESS – Doorways will distribute several kinds of content covering the entire spectrum of intangible products related to culture, including music, television and film entertainment, news and education
- Chinese Govt has agreed to endorse and support the development of Doorways in a variety of ways with the plan to take the company public within 18 months from launch
- Doorways will be the first JV Chinese-American company to be involved in ownership and operation of a major internet vehicle in china.
- In past China has protected itself against Google, WhatsApp and Youtube. This deal has been created, authorized and supported at the highest levels of Chinese govt
- Basis for unique position of Doorways
- History of principal’s involvement with very top of Chinese leadership
- China felt time was ripe to open door to western technology in JV that serves their domestic consumer market needs
- China views entertainment, music and education as key to their future to educate population
- Doorways has exclusive and primary right to distribute specific western and domestic entertainment, music and educational content over internet from a complex set of agreements with the National Security Group, Film and tv broadcast Group and others at levels above SOEs
- Have agreement with China Mobile for bundling of subscribers in year 1 who will pay USD1 DOLLAR per phone per month paid to Doorways but billed as part of the monthly subscription into new phones by China Mobile- guarantees instant massive market penetration from day 1
- First year post launch revenue total to Doorways will be USD 2.9B with EBITA of USD1.9B
- App is ready for launch now. Totally tested
- Entertainment is ready for launch now
- China Mobile contract is finalized and ready to be signed
- Doorways can be in market place within 60 days from closing of financing with revenue flow from China Mobile in first month of operation
- Capital is needed to finalize last mile to launch
- Minimum needed to do launch is between USD 3-5M
- Doorways is currently finalizing a SUD25M investment with commitments to fund additional USD250M which could be signed in next 45 days
- Getting USD3-5M quickly will allow ability to negotiate a better deal with NY investment bank and initiate launch process
- This capital will get approximately 3% of equity based on the $250m valuation
- Have financials and projections backing up all assumptions
