‘Treacherous’: Texas Real Estate Mogul Sells 130K Acres to Chinese Billionaire

A Texas real estate mogul from Lufkin reportedly sold a large amount of local farmland to a Chinese billionaire identified as Sun Guangxin, who has links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Realtors in the area told the Daily Mail that David Frankens made millions of dollars via the deal with Sun, who was previously a captain in the Chinese military, the outlet reported Sunday.

Sun apparently purchased over 130,000 acres of farmland in Val Verde County for about $110 million between 2016 and 2018, the article said, adding that a local landowner called the Texas man’s actions “treacherous.”

An image shows the Texas mogul with an unidentified woman:

Texas mogul is branded 'treacherous' over 'deal of the century' which saw him sell 130,000 acres of farmland to Chinese billionaire https://t.co/imGFZidUIe pic.twitter.com/dp1LY7Qx2u

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) September 3, 2023

The Mail article continued:

Frankens’ relationship with Sun has put him at the center of an ongoing controversy over the billionaire’s Texan land grab, which saw the Xinjiang-born businessman claim 7 percent of all land in Val Verde County between 2016 and 2018.

The former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) captain hit the headlines when he tabled plans for a 46-turbine wind farm on a 15,000-acre ranch he bought from Frankens in 2018.

Opponents said the project would provide Sun — and by extension the Chinese state — access to the state electric grid.

In reaction, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) passed the Lone Star Infrastructure Act in 2021 to protect his state.

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Breitbart News reported at the time:

“As far as I know this is the first law of its kind by any state in the United States of America,” Abbott said of the bill designed to prevent “hostile nations” from accessing Texas’ electricity grid and other “critical infrastructure,” such as computer networks and waste treatment systems.

Republicans in Congress also weighed in, including Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz, with the latter introducing the Protecting Military Installations and Ranges Act of 2021, a bill that would require the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to re-review “any purchase or lease of real estate near a military installation or military airspace in the United States by a foreign person connected to or subsidized by “China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea.”

Per the Mail article, Frankens reportedly bought properties in the area before quickly flipping them to GH America, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese billionaire’s Guanghui Group.

In April, the Texas Senate passed a law to ban Chinese citizens from buying certain types of farmland in the state, Breitbart News reported.

Senate Bill 147 could ban citizens from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, from buying such land “with lawmakers fearing that the sale of such land to individuals hostile to America could jeopardize the country’s food security,” the outlet said.