Trump's FBI Pick Kash Patel Took Up to $5M in Stock from Chinese Ecommerce Giant Shein

Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director told senators he has no plans to divest his shares, which his financial disclosure form says were received in exchange for consulting services.

Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), owns stocks valued between $1 to $5 million in a company that controls Shein, a controversial ecommerce and fashion giant founded in China, according to lobbying and corporate records from three countries reviewed by WIRED. They show that Patel began consulting for Shein one month before the company also retained the services of a lobbying firm where Pam Bondi, Trump’s newly confirmed US attorney general, worked at the time.

In a legally required financial disclosure, Patel told members of the US Senate—who are expected to vote on whether to confirm him next week—that he does not plan to divest his stake in Shein if he becomes the leader of the FBI. He was allotted shares in the fast-fashion company, which is reportedly valued to be worth $50 billion, in the form of what are called “restricted stock units” (RSUs).

RSUs are often given to company employees, who typically cannot cash them out until a certain amount of time has passed or other conditions are met. Patel disclosed that his Shein RSUs began vesting on February 1 and are expected to be paid out quarterly. Legally, an official like the head of the FBI would not need to divest or recuse until a clear conflict of interest emerges, says Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications at the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “However, the optics of the situation are not great,” he says. “So we would recommend divestiture or recusal from any matter involving Shein upon taking office.”

An official working for Trump’s transition team said that Patel has gone “above and beyond” in answering questions from lawmakers. “The Senate has evaluated all potential conflicts and concerns,” Arjun Mody said in an email to WIRED. Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his financial disclosure, Patel said he began working as a consultant for an entity in the Cayman Islands called Elite Depot Ltd in April 2024, which he described as a “Fashion Management Company.” A WIRED review of corporate registration filings, lobbying disclosures, and other public records from the US, UK, and Cayman Islands shows that Elite Depot functions as a parent company for Shein.

Shein, which is known for selling low-priced clothing made in China, was under intense scrutiny in Washington over its alleged unethical business practices when Patel began consulting for the company. Amid the controversy, Shein was struggling to obtain approval from financial regulators to go public in New York. In February that year, then-senator Marco Rubio of Florida, now Trump’s Secretary of State, urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to halt Shein’s planned IPO.

In a financial audit Shein submitted to regulators in the UK—where it is currently trying to IPO after its attempts at a US listing were stalled—the company said its “ultimate controlling party is Elite Depot Limited, a company registered in the Cayman Islands.” Public filings submitted to congress by three different political lobbying firms working on Shein’s behalf in Washington similarly describe Elite Depot as having a 100 percent ownership stake in the fast-fashion giant.

Elite Depot’s directors include Xu Yangtian, the name of Shein’s founder, and Donald Tang, the name of the company’s executive chairman, corporate records from the Cayman Islands viewed by WIRED show. (The list of directors was also reported on social media by journalist Roger Sollenberger.)

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“These ties between Patel and Shein are truly shocking,” Rush Doshi, a professor at Georgetown University who specializes in China foreign policy issues and served on former President Biden’s National Security Council, said in a social media post. “Especially amid reports that DOJ/FBI is going to reduce focus on [China] influence efforts in the US.”

If he becomes the head of the FBI, Patel could oversee a range of law enforcement activities that could have substantial effects on Shein’s business, including investigations into the company’s supply chains or its handling of consumer purchasing data. Shein has an estimated 17.3 million active customers in the US.

Patel would also be privy to sensitive national security information at the FBI, and his holdings in a company with operations in China could make him a target for espionage. In written responses to questions from lawmakers, Patel vowed he would “not participate personally and substantially” in matters that to his knowledge would have a direct financial impact on Elite Depot.

Patel isn't the only member of Trump's orbit that Shein has courted. One of the lobbying firms that it hired to curry favor among US lawmakers has numerous ties to the president and his administration. Ballard Partners, which filings show first registered as a lobbyist for Shein in May of last year, formerly employed both Bondi and Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff. While the fillings don’t indicate that Bondi ever lobbied for Shein directly, she was employed by Ballard Partners until being sworn in as attorney general earlier this week.

Bondi’s first actions after taking office included disbanding the Department of Justice’s Foreign Influence Task Force, a group established during Trump’s first term in office to root out foreign political lobbying and influence campaigns orchestrated by countries like Russia and China. Bondi said the move would free up resources for “more pressing priorities.”

https://www.wired.com/story/kash-patel-elite-depot-shein/