A ProPublica investigation has revealed that a Chinese businessman with ties to military contractors, along with other overseas investors from China, Hong Kong, and Russia, secretly acquired small stakes in SpaceX through a US middleman firm called Tomales Bay Capital between 2018 and 2021. This raises national security concerns given SpaceX's extensive work on sensitive US government contracts, such as building spy satellites for the Pentagon. The revelations are particularly notable as SpaceX recently barred Chinese and Hong Kong investors from its record-breaking IPO, citing "regulatory and compliance risks."
