WHAT PENNSYLVANIANS ARE SAYING: MCCORMICK’S “ALARMING” RECORD INVESTING IN FENTANYL IS “BEYOND DISQUALIFYING”

News | Press Releases · Aug 5, 2024

Scranton Mayor Cognetti: “[McCormick] Has Created Wealth by Investing in Fentanyl…in China of All Places”

Leader-Vindicator Letter to the Editor: “Yet Another Reason Why We Can’t Trust Dave McCormick to Keep Pennsylvanians Safe”

PENNSYLVANIA — Connecticut mega-millionaire and hedge fund CEO David McCormick’s investments in China’s largest fentanyl producer have remained under intense scrutiny following a report from Keystone Newsroom.

Local leaders have called out McCormick during interviews with Eastern Pennsylvania radio stations and elected leaders from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh have slammed him for putting profits over Pennsylvanians.

WATCH: Philadelphia Councilmembers Call Out McCormick’s Investments in Chinese Fentanyl

“David McCormick put profits over the thousands of Pennsylvania families who have been devastated by the fentanyl epidemic across the Commonwealth – from my community in Kensington all the way to Erie,” said Councilmember Mike Driscoll. “McCormick has only ever looked out for his own bottom line without regard for the terrible costs his investments have had on Pennsylvanians.”

“It is beyond disqualifying that David McCormick has profited from investments in China’s largest fentanyl producer while Pennsylvanians suffered,” said Councilmember Jim Harrity. “David McCormick must answer to Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians on his record of putting his profits ahead of our communities.”

“David McCormick’s investments in China’s largest fentanyl producer – at a time when fentanyl is devastating our city and our Commonwealth – is problematic and shows that he does not have any true interest in any of our communities suffering through the opioid crisis,” said Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.

Here’s What Pennsylvanians Are Saying:

WILK Radio: The Morning News with Nancy & Jason

  • Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti: In the case of McCormick — you know — again, could not take away from from his intelligence, but he’s using his success and the funds he has from being a hedge fund CEO — and not just a hedge fund, but Bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the world — and wanting to take that to the Senate where he would reward big companies, reward corporations, reward the wealthiest people, and hope — I guess — that this wealth that’s created at the very, very top of our country just kind of gets down somewhat and somehow helps people. 
  • Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti: But in the case of McCormick, we’re seeing that as the campaign dives into the investment record of Bridgewater over the years that he was there, you’re seeing that they invested in the largest producer of fentanyl in China. They invested almost $2 million in Humanwell Healthcare, [it] produces 90% of China’s fentanyl.
  • Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti: So, you know, David McCormick’s trying to have it both ways, right? He’s trying to get into the Senate and say that he’s just a guy from Pennsylvania that hunted and chased thrills when he was a kid. And okay, but at the same time, he — you know — has created wealth by investing in fentanyl…in China of all places. And that fentanyl has come here. So it’s so disingenuous to try to have all of those things be true at the same time, we’re seeing that crash and burn with JD Vance, the same, similar threads are true with McCormick. There’s just less attention on it. But it’s important here in Pennsylvania, that we continue to point out these things.

WCHE Radio: The Morning Show

  • Barry Dee: Something that I did find very alarming and you can really illustrate this. In the press thing that came out, it says that — There’s reporting by Keystone Newsroom found that McCormick invested in China’s largest fentanyl producer and the fact is that he claims he wants to ban fentanyl. Can you elaborate on that?
  • Mitch Kates: Yeah, no to say it’s alarming is almost an understatement. And just last night, guys, you know in the campaign world don’t sleep often. I was working pretty late into the night. I had the TV on in the background, and the guy who said we should all stop doing negative campaigning was actually on overdrive last night. And I saw one ad, I think it’s a new ad, which actually rolled out multiple versions of his tale of job creation and fighting fentanyl. 
  • Mitch Kates: And the inconvenient truth is that Dave McCormick, while he ran a Pennsylvania based company, he actually slashed hundreds of jobs and ended up shipping those jobs to India and China. And then more to the point, which is, frankly, why I’ve been calling him dangerous Dave is because he ran the largest hedge fund in the world, they invested over a million dollars in China’s largest factory that produces fentanyl. The irony is he’s running TV ads saying that he’s going to stop fentanyl from coming across the borders in Mexico, the factory that he made millions of dollars from his investment is the same factory that supplies the fentanyl down into Mexico. So while he was profiting off of his investments with his hedge fund, thousands of Pennsylvanians and frankly, tens of thousands of people across this country were dying while he was profiting. I think that’s shameful.

WHYY:

  • Host: He frequently positions himself as a “jobs creator.”
  • Carmen Russell-Sluchansky: Yeah, he regularly takes credit for jobs created by a company he worked for in the early aughts called FreeMarkets. Only it turns out that the company actually reduced its Pennsylvania based workforce after he took over as CEO and then later in a merger with another company. 
  • Carmen Russell-Sluchansky: So I feel like I should mention that it’s been reported that while he was CEO, his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, was very invested in a Chinese fentanyl producer.

Here’s What Pennsylvanians Are Reading:

Leader-Vindicator Letter to the Editor: McCormick profited as PA suffered

  • In 2022, more than 4,700 Pennsylvanians passed away from fentanyl overdoses, touching thousands more friends, loved ones and families who lost someone they knew.
  • That same year, Connecticut hedge fund executive Dave McCormick oversaw over a million dollars in investments in China’s largest fentanyl producer — the country that supplies the vast majority of fentanyl smuggled across the border by Mexican criminal cartels.
  • The fentanyl epidemic has been devastating for communities across Pennsylvania and now we know — thanks to new reporting — that McCormick made a profit while Pennsylvanians suffered.
  • As he has done throughout his checkered career, he put profits over Pennsylvanians to protect his own bottom line.
  • Rather than put forward solutions to solve the terrible fentanyl epidemic, McCormick looked for a way to make a buck.
  • He turned his back on “one of the toughest border and immigration laws in modern history” to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl into Pennsylvania communities. That bill was stonewalled at the request of candidate Trump because he’d rather have a campaign issue than a solution.
  • Pennsylvanians deserve a leader who will always tell the truth. Here is yet another reason why we can’t trust Dave McCormick to keep Pennsylvanians safe.

Pittsburgh Union Progress: Casey campaign focuses on fentanyl crisis, slams McCormick for investing in narcotic producers

  • […] Thursday’s event in Hazelwood stressed the contrast between Casey’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and the actions of his opponent in the Senate race, Republican David McCormick. 
  • The contrast is “stark and clear,” [state Rep. Aerion Abney, D-Manchester]  said. “Dave McCormick puts profits over Pennsylvanians, while Sen. Casey is fighting on the side of our families.”
  • Both Leech and Abney criticized McCormick for investments made by the hedge fund he managed. The Casey campaign shared a news story, published in the Pennsylvania-based news organization Keystone on July 9, reporting that federal tax forms show Bridgewater Associates hedge funds in 2021 held nearly $1.7 million in stock in China’s largest fentanyl producer. McCormick served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates at the time.
  • “While thousands of Pennsylvania families struggled with the loss of a loved one,” Leech said, McCormick’s “only concern was how to make even more profits.”

WHYY: GOP Senate nominee McCormick has his moment at the Republican National Convention

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