A California family that built its fortune on McDonald’s franchises reportedly donated more than $4.4 million to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, and other leading Democrats.
C.C. Yin, the family’s 89-year-old patriarch, is a Chinese immigrant who built a McDonald’s franchise empire and founded the Asian Pacific American Public Affairs (APAPA) association.
Newly released FBI files have described suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang as a point of contact for the APAPA and say a top official in the group — identified by sources as C.C. Yin — directed her toward former Rep. Eric Swalwell. Fang also appeared with the Yins at a 2013 APAPA event.
C.C. Yin’s brother, Henry Yin, helped arrange Newsom’s 2023 trip to China, where the governor met Xi Jinping, CBS News reported.
A California family gave over $4.4 million in political donations to Governor Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris and other leading California politicians. And now, that family's alleged past links to infamous suspected honeypot spy Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, and other… pic.twitter.com/3Hv7iq6rvI
— CBS Sacramento (@CBSSacramento) September 21, 2026
Fang used an APAPA chapter as a pipeline into California politics, helping place interns and making herself Swalwell’s main contact with the group before fleeing to China in 2015.
Fang had a very well-documented sexual relationship with Swalwell, even managing at one point to get an intern placed in his Washington office. The APAPA, according to a New York Post investigation earlier this month, "is still placing interns with politicians across the US."
She didn't stop there, having "also seduced two other politicians she had met through the APAPA network," the Post reported.
The Yins, meanwhile, became major donors and door-openers according to CBS. Records show about $364,817 to Newsom campaigns, plus $80,000 to his 2019 inauguration committee and $50,000 to a nonprofit at his direction. They also spell out $214,300 to Harris, along with six-figure gifts to other California Democrats.
California governor Gavin Newsom meets with President Xi Jinping in Beijing amid troubled US-China ties
— MillenniumPost (@mpostdigital) October 26, 2023
Video: Source#GavinNewsom #XiJinping #Beijing #USA #China #Biden #California #JoeBiden #Jinping pic.twitter.com/kJNXaEWdtp
The same network also wrote $221,700 to Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis between 2018 and 2025 and $115,680 to former state Treasurer John Chiang, showing the Yins were embedded across California’s Democratic power structure.
Henry Yin reportedly advised Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17) on trade, appeared with Newsom at a 2019 fundraiser, and was described in Chinese state media as an overseas contact for California-China business and talent recruitment. RedState previously reported on his connection to Khanna.
Khanna celebrated his birthday while announcing the appointment in 2019: pic.twitter.com/uYaFD9y1TD
— Jackie Deal (@JacquelineNDeal) June 29, 2026
An organization press release indicates Henry Yin "has served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Representative Ro Khanna" and "served as President of APAPA’s U.S.-China Trade Committee."
Khanna is the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party — the panel created to police CCP influence in American politics, business, and technology. He publicly named Henry Yin his “senior adviser” in 2019.
Henry Yin appears to have scrubbed his LinkedIn account, which, as recently as our report on September 2nd, listed him as a senior adviser to Khanna beginning that same year.
After the Post asked about the relationship, a Khanna spokeswoman said Henry Yin “lives in Fremont and is a respected community member, but has never held a formal role with the Congressman.”
The Post reported that Henry Yin traveled to China as head of a “Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Delegation,” delivering remarks on “perspectives as overseas Chinese in the U.S.,” from 2013 to 2023, coverage amplified in party-controlled Sichuan media.
Official overseas-Chinese affairs reports have called him an “overseas Chinese leader” in California and Silicon Valley.
A 2018 U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report describes United Front work as the CCP’s effort “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition” to its “policies and authority,” including among overseas Chinese communities.
The Yins have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
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