A video shared to X by @WallStreetApes shows a man standing outside the L.A. Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, describing a city lease arrangement he said paid the hotel's owner, Shenzhen New World, $154 a night per room, regardless of occupancy.
He said the city leased the building starting in 2020 under Project Roomkey, later folded into Mayor Karen Bass's Inside Safe program, and claimed the city paid roughly $100 million to the company in total.
He also said that the occupancy at one point fell to 24 percent of rooms while the flat per-room rate continued.
WOW ? Los Angeles Democrats paid $100 million dollars to a private company owned by a Chinese billionaire for a homeless hotel
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 23, 2026
Democrats also agreed to pay for ALL rooms regardless if anyone was housed
The deal was so shady the Chinese billionaire fled to China when the FBI… pic.twitter.com/TI8nMdi7U9
The man also alleged without evidence that the arrangement functioned as a money laundering scheme benefiting Democratic donors and described Wei Huang as a Democratic donor. The claims couldn't be independently verified by the Daily Dot.
Reacting to the video, one commenter argued that fraud tied to city contracts frequently gets "laundered and smurfed into campaign donations," without offering supporting evidence for that specific characterization.
Another user wrote that they had experienced the corruption firsthand, "I notice this a lot in California. They don’t even hide their obvious corruption because the LA Times and other media never bother to investigate any of it and the AG is part of their network of corruption."
The owner of L.A. Grand Hotel is Wei Huang, a billionaire who is also the owner of Shenzhen New World Group, according to the Justice Department. His company purchased the L.A. Grand Hotel in 2010. Prosecutors said Huang provided more than $500,000 to former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, allegedly to help settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against Huizar in exchange for Huizar's support for the company's planned 77-story tower nearby.
I notice this a lot in California. They don’t even hide their obvious corruption because the LA Times and other media never bother to investigate any of it and the AG is part of their network of corruption.
— áine (@jillsdeal) July 23, 2026
Shenzhen New World was convicted in November 2022 on charges including honest services wire fraud and bribery, and was fined $4 million and placed on five years' probation in May 2023, per the same DOJ release. Huang was also charged but has not appeared in court. The Justice Department considers him a fugitive and believes he is living in China.
A third commenter raised additional questions about Huang's immigration history, asking whether he obtained a U.S. passport tied to his investments and whether he had children born in the country during his time here.
The Daily Dot could not independently verify the total lease payments beyond $8.7 million documented through mid-2023, the money laundering allegations made in the video, the $100 million payment claim, or any direct financial connection between Wei Huang and Democratic campaign donations. Confirmed details about Shenzhen New World's criminal conviction are drawn from Justice Department press releases.
