Plus: New investments tie Laxalt’s financial interests to the Chinese government
In Case You Missed It, the Nevada Independent uncovered financial documents showing Adam Laxalt has continued to rake in millions of dollars from D.C.-based law firm, Cooper & Kirk, during his Senate campaign. Laxalt has made almost $3 million through his work at the firm since losing his race for Governor in 2018.
This new disclosure shows how Laxalt is making millions while his firm profits off Big Oil companies Chevron Corporation and Shell, which are making record profits as gas prices skyrocket.
According to the documents, Laxalt has also made major investments in two Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, as a Senate candidate, tying his financial interests directly to the Chinese Communist government. The companies Laxalt invested in were “nearly classified as military companies by the Trump administration amid reports they were engaged in espionage and central to the Chinese government’s surveillance apparatus,” according to the Nevada Independent.
Nevada Independent: New disclosure shows Laxalt pulled in $1.5 million this year from private law firm
Jacob Solis // 5.25.22
Updated financial disclosures filed earlier this month show Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former attorney general Adam Laxalt was paid more than $1.5 million in calendar year 2022 by a high-profile Washington, D.C., law firm, though his continued employment status with the firm remains unclear.
The new report follows an initial disclosure from last year that showed Laxalt was paid more than $2.2 million by the firm, Cooper & Kirk, after briefly exiting electoral politics in the wake of his 2018 loss in the race for governor. […]
However, recent disclosures on the right-wing news website Breitbart — a client of Cooper & Kirk’s — still describe Laxalt as a partner in stories that name him, and add that Laxalt is “not actively engaged or working on any matters for Breitbart News.”
A spokesman for Laxalt’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment to clarify his employment status, and a request for comment from Cooper & Kirk was not returned before publication.
The new filing follows an initial disclosure last December that also showed Laxalt employed as outside counsel for the right-leaning watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.
The clients listed by Laxalt on the new report remain the same as his initial filing, including Breitbart, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, a timeshare company called Starpoint Resort Group, a hedge fund called the Baupost Group, and Appriss Inc., a technology company that developed a victim notification service adopted in Nevada when Laxalt was attorney general.
The disclosure also shows that Laxalt owns between $1,000 and $15,000 in stock in both the Chinese technology company Tencent and internet retailer Alibaba. The two companies, alongside Chinese tech giant Baidu, were nearly classified as military companies by the Trump administration amid reports they were engaged in espionage and central to the Chinese government’s surveillance apparatus.
The classification would have subject the companies to an investment ban — a plan that was scrapped just days before Trump left office. But it followed an earlier effort by his administration to ban the app WeChat, owned by Tencent, in 2020, under allegations that the app would allow the Chinese government to spy on Chinese nationals inside the U.S.
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