{"id":576722,"date":"2021-06-29T16:35:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T20:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=576722"},"modified":"2021-06-29T16:35:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T20:35:35","slug":"stefanik-challenger-was-china-dailys-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stefanik-challenger-was-china-dailys-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefanik Challenger Was China Daily\u2019s Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstefanik-challenger-was-china-dailys-lawyer%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=576722&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"29.023255813953\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/\">Elections<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">New York Democrat Matthew Putorti represented &#8216;China Daily&#8217; in a copyright lawsuit<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"378\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/63007-1-736x378-1.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/63007-1-736x378.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/63007-1-1024x526.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/63007-1-768x395.jpeg 768w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tMatt Putorti \/ pillsburylaw.com\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/jack-beyrer\/\" title=\"Posts by Jack Beyrer\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Jack Beyrer<\/a> \u2022 June 29, 2021 4:20 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"110.58797303175\">\n<p>A New York Democrat challenging Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) represented the state-run propaganda outlet <em>China Daily<\/em> in a 2019 lawsuit, filings reveal.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Putorti, who emerged as Stefanik&#8217;s main competitor after strong fundraising in his campaign&#8217;s opening days, was the Chinese propaganda outlet&#8217;s sole representative during litigation over a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Pena-v.-China-Daily-complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2019 copyright complaint<\/a> filed by an American photographer, according to legal filings obtained by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>. Putorti, as an attorney for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-29-at-2.14.18-PM.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed several legal motions<\/a> on behalf of <em>China Daily<\/em> beginning in February 2019.<\/p>\n<p><i>China Daily&nbsp;<\/i>is one of Beijing\u2019s primary tools for pushing the Chinese Communist Party&#8217;s agenda overseas. The State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/02\/18\/world\/asia\/china-media-trump.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">designated<\/a> <i>China Daily<\/i> a propaganda operative of Beijing in February 2020. The outlet spends millions of dollars annually to publish pro-China articles in U.S. publications, according to several years of Foreign Agent Registration Act filings <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/china-flouts-fed-law-to-publish-propaganda-in-ny-times-wapo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reviewed by the <em>Free Beacon<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Putorti&#8217;s work on behalf of <em>China Daily<\/em> came as the Chinese regime ramped up its spending on global propaganda efforts. The outlet is currently being used by China as it wages a campaign to discredit the United States and deflect from its mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic. <i><\/i>In the past year, the <i>New York Times<\/i> announced it would <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/media\/nyt-quietly-scrubs-chinese-propaganda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">end its longstanding financial arrangement<\/a> with <em>China Daily<\/em> and quietly began deleting content produced by the state-run outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Putorti, Pillsbury LLP, nor <em>China Daily&nbsp;<\/em>responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Putorti&#8217;s firm does extensive work with the Chinese\u2014the firm has three offices in China and devotes an entire<span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillsburylaw.com\/en\/services\/global-reach\/china.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">section<\/a><span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>on its website\u2014a great deal of which is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillsburylaw.com\/images\/content\/1\/0\/v14\/109654\/BR-China-Practice-Capabilities-CN.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">written in Mandarin<\/a>\u2014to its status as a &#8220;first choice&#8221; law firm for Chinese executives. The website advertises its attorneys&#8217; &#8220;cultural sensitivity and experience&#8221; working on complex international transactions that benefit Chinese companies.<\/p>\n<p>While Putorti was with the firm, it helped litigate a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillsburylaw.com\/images\/content\/7\/0\/v7\/70053\/CS-RecoveringMillionsOwedSolarEnergyField-2015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multimillion-dollar arbitration<\/a> case on behalf of Trina Solar, a massive Chinese solar company, and Chinese company E-Town Capital&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pillsburylaw.com\/en\/news-and-insights\/pillsbury-guides-chinese-fund-in-300-million-acquisition.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$300 million acquisition<\/a> of a U.S. semiconductor firm. E-Town Capital, based in Beijing, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.en.etowncapital.com\/2020-12\/23\/c_576728.htm\">said<\/a> in 2020 that it has the official backing of the Chinese Communist Party. The firm&#8217;s semiconductor subsidiary, the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, was<span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-usa-china-sanctions\/u-s-blacklists-dozens-of-chinese-firms-including-smic-dji-idUSKBN28S0HL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blacklisted<\/a><span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>by the Trump administration for its connections to the Chinese military.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese solar companies like Trina Solar have come under fire for their reliance on slave labor. According to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-02-10\/why-it-s-so-hard-for-the-solar-industry-to-quit-xinjiang\">Bloomberg<\/a><\/em>, some 45 percent of <span class=\"il\">solar<\/span>&nbsp;panel materials worldwide are&nbsp;sourced from the Xinjiang region, where forced labor camps are prevalent. The Biden administration<span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/after-considering-region-wide-ban-biden-targets-just-one-xinjiang-solar-material-company\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sanctioned<\/a><span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>a Chinese solar company in June for its connections to forced labor, and former secretary of state John Kerry in May<span class=\"gmail-Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/kerry-admits-slave-labor-fuels-chinas-green-energy-supply-chain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">admitted<\/a> slave labor plagues the larger solar industry.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear whether Putorti worked on either deal. According to his Pillsbury attorney page, Putorti specializes in international arbitration cases such as the Trina Solar matter.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Easton, a senior director at the Project 2049 Institute, told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that <em>China Daily<\/em> remains a &#8220;mouthpiece&#8221; for the Chinese Communist Party and said Americans would be tempted to &#8220;boycott&#8221; publications that do business with it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What is troubling is that some respected American publications are taking money from the CCP to run <em>China Daily<\/em> inserts that are not clearly labeled as Chinese government propaganda,&#8221; Easton said. &#8220;If American readers knew the source of their news was taking money from a genocidal regime, they might opt to boycott that source.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese government has used <em>China Daily<\/em> to spread disinformation about its genocide of Uyghur Muslims. The outlet has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/a\/202104\/30\/WS608b4036a31024ad0babb623.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">argued<\/a> that policies in the region such as forced sterilization of Uyghur women have benefited the country, and that accusations of genocide come only as a part of a &#8220;defamation campaign&#8221; from &#8220;anti-China&#8221; forces in the United States. More than 1 million Uyghur Muslims remain&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/03\/09\/asia\/china-uyghurs-xinjiang-genocide-report-intl-hnk\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">imprisoned<\/a> in reeducation camps in Xinjiang, where watchdogs have reported forced abortion, rape, and other violent acts against Uyghur women.<\/p>\n<p>Putorti remains featured on the law firm&#8217;s website. His announced political run came as Republicans elevated Stefanik to a top leadership position within the House of Representatives. Stefanik has represented the upstate New York district since 2015.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elections New York Democrat Matthew Putorti represented &#8216;China Daily&#8217; in a copyright lawsuit  Matt Putorti \/ pillsburylaw.com  Jack Beyrer \u2022 June 29, 2021 4:20 &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1893710,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}