JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Helped a Chinese Military Company Raise Billions of Dollars

A new Select Committee on China investigation found JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America helped a Chinese company with ties to forced labor and China’s military raise billions of dollars. Just months after the Department of War designated Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) as a Chinese military company, both banks underwrote CATL’s initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong stock exchange, where the company raised new capital. 

“My committee’s investigation calls for serious policy changes to ensure what JPMorgan and Bank of America did never happens again. American banks must not help Chinese military companies raise money, because in doing so, they provide not only access to funding, but also legitimacy and credibility to companies that are helping our adversary build up its military,” said Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar.

Moolenaar previously issued subpoenas to the banks in July 2025 and the Select Committee reviewed due diligence materials, risk assessments, third-party reports, and internal approvals. Those records call into question CATL’s representations about its military ties and forced labor record. The Select Committee’s investigation details additional links between CATL and China’s military.

In a separate deal covered in the investigation, Morgan Stanley sponsored the IPO of Zijin Gold International Co., Ltd. (Zijin Gold), whose parent company and certain subsidiaries are on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. The same pattern appeared in the Morgan Stanley deal with Zijin Gold. According to the report, Morgan Stanley proceeded to sponsor the IPO despite clear knowledge that Zijin Mining and its Xinjiang subsidiaries had been placed on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List.

Read the investigation here and watch a video with Moolenaar about it here.