Chinese company hires influential Virginia lawmaker, gets sanctions lifted

It pays for a Chinese company to hire an influential state lawmaker, and vice-versa.

In April 2013, a Chinese company closed a $1.2 million contract with lawyer and state delegate Terry Kilgore to protect its interests in building a Virginia Beach arena and to help lift sanctions imposed on the company by the Bush administration in 2002, according to a contract between the two parties obtained by Watchdog.org.

Two months later, according to the state department website, the federal government lifted those sanctions from that same company.

China Machinery Engineering Corp. of Beijing plans to partner with a Virginia-based company to build an 18,000-seat arena and sports complex in Virginia Beach, to be completed as early as next year.

Watchdog.org reported a few weeks ago that CMEC is also partnering with United States Management LLC,  the Virginia-based company that submitted the sports arena plan for consideration. USM is borrowing $170 million from a Chinese bank to fund the proposed $200 million cost, something that’s made possible by CMEC’s involvement. That doesn’t include an additional $52.7 million paid by Virginia Beach taxpayers.

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