China-based EV company Gotion High-Tech offered to provide an all-expenses-paid trip to China to the lead government official assisting the company with its plans to build an EV battery component factory in northern Michigan amid a contentious approval process for the project last year, according to federal court documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Chuck Thelen, vice president of Gotion, Inc., told Jim Chapman—then-supervisor of Green Charter Township, Michigan—that the company would "pay for" Chapman's travel to China if he wanted to visit, according to an August 2023 text message exchange released this week as part of ongoing litigation. Gotion, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese company headquartered in Hefei. Chapman ultimately declined the company's invitation to visit China, citing "issues" in his township, those messages show. Thelen later committed to make a maximum contribution to Chapman's campaign and invited him to an exclusive golf outing.
The exchange came weeks before Green Charter Township's governing body, which Chapman oversaw as supervisor, had been scheduled to vote on a development agreement between Gotion and the township to approve the company's plans to develop a billion-dollar plant in the township. It also came amid a grassroots effort from locals opposing the project over Gotion's ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party, which Thelen and other Gotion officials have downplayed.
The Gotion project became a national controversy—drawing attention from Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, among other elected officials—both because the proposed plant location was near a U.S. military base and because it was a clearcut example of American taxpayers subsidizing Chinese-linked EV projects.
The text messages suggest Gotion, Inc. is far more intertwined with its parent company—whose corporate bylaws state that it is required to "carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China" and whose CEO is a senior Chinese Communist Party official—than it has let on. Thelen, for example, said in April that opposition to Gotion's plans was driven, in part, by xenophobia and that there was no CCP or Chinese control of the company's operations.
The text messages raise further questions about how far the company, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies, is willing to go to ensure loyalty from local officials in the United States.
"BTW gotion will pay for your travel if u are able to visit Hefei," Thelen wrote to Chapman on Aug. 1, 2023.
"Please let your chairman know I am honored by his invitation," Chapman wrote to Thelen two days later, in an apparent reference to Gotion High-Tech chairman and founder Li Zhen. "Unfortunately ongoing issues in my township preclude me from being absent for this trip."
"Gotcha," Thelen responded to Chapman. "We are seeing many people that can't get visas in time. Might reschedule for January after things settle down. Keep the heat off u and other politicians. Would that help?"
"Yes," Chapman answered. Thelen then said Gotion would provide an invitation letter to help Chapman obtain a business visa from the Chinese government.
- Gotion vice president Chuck Thelen discusses his company's invitation to then-Green Charter Township supervisor Jim Chapman to travel to China.
Less than two weeks after Chapman declined the invitation, the text messages show that Thelen promised Chapman that he would contribute a maximum donation of $1,200 to the official's campaign through his wife. Chapman responded with a QR code linking to his PayPal account. Thelen then offered to make the donation in cash, which Chapman informed him would violate state election integrity laws.
Minutes later, Thelen had another offer for Chapman, this time asking him if he would like to be a guest at a golf outing he was involved in organizing in Oakland County, Michigan. Chapman informed him he doesn't play golf.
- Gotion vice president Chuck Thelen promises to make a maximum campaign contribution to then-Green Charter Township supervisor Jim Chapman just weeks prior to a key vote on his company's project.
Green Charter Township's board, with Chapman's vote of approval, eventually approved the development agreement on Aug. 23, 2023, which addressed a variety of issues related to environmental and economic impacts. It further authorized Chapman to privately negotiate terms with Gotion. The agreement was then executed by the board in October 2023.
In November 2023, however, Chapman and the rest of the township's board were ousted in a recall election called as a result of the board's support for the Gotion project. The current board has sought to pump the brakes on the project, which led to Gotion filing a federal lawsuit against the township in March for breach of contract. The text messages revealed this week were produced as part of that litigation.
"In the two-week time period during and after the presentation of the development agreement to the board, Thelen offered Chapman an all-expenses paid trip to Hefei, China, sought to take him on a golf outing in Oakland County, and donated (through Thelen’s wife) to Chapman’s recall campaign fund at or near the maximum contribution limit," lawyers for Green Charter Township wrote in court filings this week.
"Beyond these obvious attempts to influence Chapman’s decision-making, Thelen espoused strong suggestions of a quid pro quo exchange on more than one occasion," they continued.
The filings noted additional texts in which Thelen wrote to Chapman, "We got each other’s backs," "You have had my back now its my turn to help," and "U have been a great partner and becoming an even better friend. I will help you however I can."
According to the depositions of former Green Charter Township officials who served with Chapman, Chapman never informed the board of the gifts Thelen offered him during the negotiation process. That information "should have disqualified him from negotiating on behalf of the township on the basis that he was incapable of acting impartially," township lawyers wrote this week.
"The discovery documents filed are very troubling and raise a number of red flags that will likely trigger Congress, federal executive branch departments, and the Michigan Legislature to dig further into the corrupt nature of this deal with PRC-based and CCP-tied Gotion," former United States ambassador Joseph Cella, co-founder of the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group, said in a statement to the Free Beacon.
"The various offers of enrichments or inducements made by VP of Gotion North American Operations Chuck Thelen to now recalled Green Charter Township officials either to reward them for their support of the 'deal' or ensure they maintain their support, may very well have broken state and federal laws involving the bribery of a public official," he added.
Cella said the revelations may require Gotion and its representatives to amend its Foreign Agents Registration Act disclosures.
Gotion was first identified as a foreign principal in Foreign Agents Registration Act filings in April 2023, months after it announced its proposed project in Green Charter Township. In July, those filings were quietly amended to state the company is "partially subsidized through government funding supplied by the People's Republic of China."
"Gotion has a proven track record of dishonesty when discussing its project with the people of Michigan, and now we know it offered a local official a free trip to China," said Rep. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), the chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP. "It also paid another local official $2 million for his land when it was only worth a tenth of that value. This CCP-backed corruption shows once again that Gotion is the wrong partner for Michigan, and state officials need to cut off funding for its project."
Moolenaar has spearheaded efforts in Congress to investigate Gotion and other Chinese companies developing projects in Michigan.
"It doesn't surprise me that Gotion is again caught cheating, lying, and engaged in corruption," Abby Mitch, the executive director of the right-leaning group Michigan Rising Action, told the Free Beacon. "I genuinely believe this lawsuit is slowly whittling down from the tip of the iceberg to get to the truth."
"What we can say for sure right now is that cheating, lying, and corruption have been the tools of choice for Gotion from the jump," Mitch added. "Gotion and its proxies have repeatedly rewritten laws to benefit itself or bent them until they broke."
A spokesperson for Gotion declined to comment. Chapman called the Free Beacon a "pretend news media."