The National Legal and Policy Center has filed a complaint with the Department of Education requesting “a full investigation into the University of Pennsylvania’s failure to disclose the source of millions of dollars of donations from China since 2013 to the university and its Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement as required by law.” In a news release the Center says:
Since 2017 alone, when the Biden Center opened and after Joe Biden announced he was running for President in April 2018, the university received over $70 million from China, of which $22 million were listed as “Anonymous.” Federal law requires the disclosure of the source of all donations over $250,000. The complaint also requests referral to the Department of Justice to file an enforcement action seeking compliance and to recoup all the costs of the investigation.
The complaint notes that the Biden Center co-sponsored the 2020 Penn China Research Symposiumon January 31, 2020,that included opening remarks by Ambassador Huang Ping, Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, amid the coverup by China of the pandemic of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.
“It is apparent that the Biden Center is beholden to China for its operations,” said Peter Flaherty, Chair of NLPC. “This has an insidious affect on shaping the programs it produces.” “These multi-million dollar donations from China are bad enough,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel for NLPC, “but the flagrant reporting violations over the years are simply outrageous.”
The complaint also notes that the David L. Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the university, hosted a major fundraising event for Biden on the day he announced his candidacy.