Keystone Newsroom: “[McCormick’s] Hedge Fund Invested $1.7 Million in China’s Largest Synthetic Opiate Manufacturer”

PENNSYLVANIA - Connecticut hedge fund executive and mega-millionaire David McCormick has, once again, been caught putting profits over Pennsylvanians. Breaking reporting from Keystone Newsroom has uncovered that McCormick invested in the biggest fentanyl producer in China – the country that is the source of the vast majority of the fentanyl that Mexican drug cartels traffic into the U.S.

The fentanyl crisis is devastating Pennsylvania communities and the same year McCormick made millions from his investments, fentanyl killed more than 5,000 Pennsylvanians and fentanyl seizures in Pennsylvania increased by 346%.

Keystone Newsroom: Dave McCormick invested in Chinese fentanyl before wanting to ban it during campaign

- After investing his hedge fund into Chinese fentanyl producers, stopping the flow of Chinese-produced fentanyl into the US is now one of Dave McCormick’s top priorities if he is elected to the US Senate this November. 

- “I think we need to treat it as a national security threat it is,” McCormick told attendees at the time. “What would I do? I would go after China in the sense I’d interdict ships, I would treat this like it’s nuclear plutonium.

- However, federal tax forms show that Bridgewater Associates invested in China’s largest fentanyl producer, Humanwell Healthcare, when McCormick served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates.

- In 2021, seven Bridgewater Associates hedge funds held close to $1.7 million in stock in Humanwell Healthcare, which is traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. A 2022 Rand Corporation report on comparing the production of opiates stated that Humanwell Healthcare produces 90% of China’s fentanyl. 

- According to the Pennsylvania State Police’s Overdose Information Network (ODIN), over 4,700 Pennsylvania residents passed away due to fentanyl overdoses in 2022. The report goes on to point out that the state’s opioid epidemic affects rural communities with 42.3 overdoses per 100,000 residents when compared to urban communities with 34.0 overdoses per 100,000 residents.

- McCormick’s campaign was reached for comment but did not respond.