Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s office confirmed the closure of an account with the Bank of China, a state-owned bank run by the Chinese Communist Party, following questions from a Breitbart News report last year.
Financial disclosure statements filed with the clerk of the House of Representatives showed that Gonzalez closed the accounts sometime after Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle uncovered bank statements revealing the account. The congressman’s press secretary confirmed in an email that the account was closed in 2020.
However, the closure indicated the congressman actually followed through on what he said he would do after the in-depth report by Breitbart in March 2021, when Breitbart News reported that the congressman’s previous statements showed holdings in the Bank of China of between $100,001 and $250,000. The statements also revealed that he was earning interest from the bank totaling between $2,501 and $5,000 each year. Not only did the funds raise questions, but the amount of interest the congressman was receiving also did.
Following the report, Gonzalez said he closed his accounts, but this is the first time Gonzalez’s office has confirmed this.