How a Chinese Firm Quietly Bought an Insurer Serving CIA Agents

In recent years the United States has tightened laws designed to stop foreign rivals from buying into sensitive sectors such as semiconductors, defence technology and telecommunications. But earlier rules were far looser, and one particular case from 2016 has become a striking example of how Chinese investment reached deep into areas connected to American national security.

Jeff Stein, a long time reporter covering US intelligence agencies, recalls receiving a surprising tip. A source told him that Wright USA, a small insurance company that provided liability insurance to FBI and CIA personnel, had been purchased by a Chinese firm. Stein said he was astonished to learn that a company with access to sensitive personal information about intelligence officers was now under foreign ownership.

The sale had taken place in 2015 when Wright USA was bought by the Fosun Group, a major Chinese conglomerate known for its close ties to China’s political leadership. The insurer’s customer base included active and former intelligence officials whose personal and financial information could be considered extremely sensitive. Once the sale became known, American officials raised concerns about who might now have access to those records.

Wright USA’s acquisition was not an isolated incident. Newly compiled data reviewed by the BBC shows a pattern of large scale Chinese state supported spending in wealthy countries, including the United States, Europe, Australia and parts of the Middle East. Over the past two decades China has become one of the world’s most aggressive overseas investors, giving it influence across industries and technologies that many nations consider strategically important. Beijing closely guards information about its overseas spending, treating it as a state secret.

The deal to acquire Wright USA also appears to have had direct involvement from the Chinese state. According to new financial records, four Chinese state owned banks provided a loan worth one point two billion dollars, routed through the Cayman Islands, to enable Fosun’s acquisition.

Stein reported the story in Newsweek, prompting quick action in Washington. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, launched an inquiry into the sale. Not long after, Wright USA was sold again to an American buyer, although the details of how that decision was made remain unclear. Fosun and the current owners of Wright USA did not respond to requests for comment.

Senior intelligence officials in the United States have since confirmed that the Wright USA case helped shape the stricter investment laws introduced in 2018 under the first Trump administration. At the time few understood how extensive China’s overseas investment strategy had become, but the incident has come to be seen as one example of a broader effort by Beijing to expand its global financial and strategic footprint.