WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Prying into Chinese Tyrants’ Unreported Riches, Earnings, and Secrets (PICTURES) Act during a Wednesday press conference.
The act aims to expose the wealth and hidden assets of senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, specifically, assets concealed overseas or funneled through financial proxies.
The ultimate goal of this act is to better inform U.S. national security and foreign policy decisions as well as to expose the hypocritical assets China’s General Secretary Xi Jinping and other leaders of one of the world’s wealthiest and most corrupt authoritarian regimes own and manage.
Sen. Scott commented on the hypocrisy of Chinese officials’ dealings with capitalist, overseas assets, for the purpose of amassing wealth.
“Communist China’s ruthless regime has built a throne of lies, theft, and tyranny that undermines the very principles of the United States. The regime in Communist China is lying to its people and the world - it’s time the American people see the truth behind the CCP’s carefully manufactured image.” he said. “My PICTURES Act exposes the hypocrisy of dictators like Xi preaching the principles of communism, while living like emperors hiding billions in secret offshore accounts and profiting off the labor of the nation’s people.”
Scott, eager for the PICTURES Act to pass, finishes his press conference, stating, “I look forward to the quick passage of this bill to highlight just how corrupt Communist China really is.”
According to a 2022 article published by the Wall Street Journal, Beijing has gone on record to curb the ownership of overseas assets owned by high ranking officials or their close associates.
“China’s Communist Party will block promotions for senior cadres whose spouses or children hold significant assets abroad,” the article stated. “The directive prohibits spouses and children of ministerial-level officials from holding—directly or indirectly—any real estate abroad or shares in entities registered overseas. Senior officials and members of their immediate families would also be barred from setting up accounts with overseas financial institutions unless they have legitimate reasons for doing so.
