It’s safe to say that not everyone at Renaissance Technologies agreed with former co-CEO Robert Mercer’s politics and successful support for Donald Trump’s successful presidential ambitions. But it’s also safe to say that Mercer was not alone in said enthusiasms in East Setauket. Indeed, coinciding with Mercer’s own return from semi–political reclusion following his exit from RenTech, we find one of his former protégés attempting, on a more modest scale undoubtedly reflective of his more modest Medallion investments, to replicate Mercer’s efforts to build a right-wing media empire. And while we can’t say for sure whether Huayi Zhang shares Mercer’s (alleged) beliefs on the separation of the races and the curative value of piss, he sure hates the Chinese Communist Party every bit as much, and has some other eccentricities of his own.
A tax document not intended for public disclosure reveals that a branch of the Epoch Media Group — a conservative media empire controlled by Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement with a stated goal of destroying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — received over $900,000 from and was formerly led by one of Mercer’s longtime employees, Huayi Zhang, at the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies…. Epoch has expanded outside of its hawkish anti-Beijing editorial line, emerging as one of the most prolific pro-Trump media outlets….
Huayi and Siuling Zhang, contributed $909,500 to New Tang Dynasty between 2012 and 2016. Zhang also served as chair of the organization’s board in 2004, 2005 and 2007 to 2010. He was listed as a director in 2006…. Huayi Zhang also listed Renaissance Technologies as his employer in campaign contributions, suggesting he was still an employee at the fund until at least 2018….
There is no evidence that Zhang and Mercer, through their shared affiliation with Renaissance Technologies and their respective affiliations with right-wing media outlets Epoch Media and Breitbart, coordinated their efforts to drive a hawkishly anti-Beijing agenda and develop two of the most proflific pro-Trump megaphones on the Internet.
Kyle Bass has found himself with some strange bedfellows, indeed.
The Hedge Fund Man Behind Pro-Trump Media’s New War on China [Daily Beast]