The following is a joint investigation by the Breitbart News Foundation (BNF) and the Government Accountability Institute (GAI).
In Part I of this joint investigation by the Breitbart News Foundation (BNF) and the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), it was revealed that from a single brick building on North Eustis Street in St. Paul, Minnesota, a web of pro-Beijing nonprofits and businesses collaborate with the Overseas Chinese Service Center of Minnesota (Minnesota OCSC), which itself works directly with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department.
Part II revealed that the public University of Minnesota email account of Dr. Bingwen Yan — the “person in charge” of the Minnesota OCSC — is listed on official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) websites as the official contact for the Minnesota OCSC, and that any communications that may have been taking place on that email address could prove useful to any investigation of whether the CCP is operating another “police station” in Minnesota.
Now, in Part III, BNF and GAI turn their focus on another Chinese-born businessman with connections to this network in St. Paul, Minnesota: Ma Yuanzhuo, aka Vincent Mar.
Since graduating from University of Minnesota in 1985, Vincent Mar has been operating within a vast network of cultural, political, and economic exchanges between the Chinese government and influential figures in the United States. Public records show that over the past twenty years, Mar has held leadership positions at several organizations that operate under the guidance of the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD). Some of these groups were described in our previous reports, such as the Chinese American Association of Minnesota (CAAM) and the Minnesota Chinese World, which are both connected to the Minnesota OCSC on North Eustis Street. Mar was a founding co-director of the OCSC.
Mar has also served as an officer of two entities that some China experts believe are front groups for CCP intelligence operations: the China Overseas Exchange Association (COEA) and the Chinese Overseas Friendship Association (COFA). Mar was heavily involved with both groups leading up to May 28, 2019, when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and top CCP officials in Beijing for the 9th World Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations and the 1st Council Conference of the 5th China Overseas Friendship Association. Here it was decided that COFA and COEA would be merged into the UFWD as a single unified platform.
Mar’s most prominent United Front position was serving as a Deputy Secretary-General of the China Overseas Chinese International Cultural Exchange Promotion Association. This group is directly supervised by the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), which China experts identify as a “key united front organization.” The CCP’s Central Committee has described ACFROC as “a bridge and a bond for the party and government to connect with overseas Chinese compatriots.” Recently, a Chinese-American ACFROC member (and former aide to New York Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathleen Hochul) named “Linda Sun” was indicted for visa fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors allege Sun was a covert CCP agent. In 2019, Sun joined ACFROC, but she failed to disclose her roles and benefits (including travel and lodging) as required by New York State ethics rules.
In July 2018, the Sichuan Overseas Chinese Federation posted a public notice on AFROC’s website announcing that they would be making a 12-day visit to the U.S. in September 2018 to oversee Chinese art troupes performing in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. According to the public notice, the goal of these performances was to “implement the requirements” of the CCP’s “central reform plan” by promoting overseas “friendship work” and to publicize the American launch of Sichuan’s celebrated liquor brand, Shede Spirits. The announcement specified that there would be a planned visit with Vincent Mar of the Chinese American Business Association of Minnesota (CABAM) and that a cooperation agreement contract would be signed to help publicize and establish Shede Spirits brand presence in the United States.
A couple months later, during the last week of September 2018, Mar presided over a massive ACFROC arts troupe performance in Minnesota titled “Embrace China, Beautiful Sichuan” (featuring special guest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz), and then helped facilitate Shede Spirit’s launch party at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
Reports on the performance and launch party again refer to Mar as a representative of the (CABAM), a nonprofit that was involuntarily dissolved by Minnesota’s Secretary of State a year earlier in 2017. Somehow, however, CABAM has apparently continued to operate despite no longer being a registered nonprofit. For instance, during the coronavirus epidemic of 2021, it was announced that CABAM helped donate thousands of disposable COVID face masks to China; and in 2023, CABAM was listed as an event organizer for the 2nd Annual Twin Cities Dumpling Feast.
A flyer advertising the September 22, 2018, ACFROC performance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, presided over by Vincent Mar.
From left: Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), Yu Peng, Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-CA), Yang Fan, Deng Qing, and Ma Yuanzhuo (aka Vincent Mar) at the ACFROC performance in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 22, 2018.
Ma Yuanzhuo (aka Vincent Mar) accepting a souvenir from the Sichuan Overseas Chinese Federation in September 2018.
A close analysis of CABAM reveals that CABAM’s Beijing Office has a “subsidiary” Chinese entity known as Beijing Global Lihua International Exhibition (Beijing Global). According to multiple Chinese advertising websites, CABAM has used Beijing Global to oversee its international expos and business delegation trips. The company’s ads reference former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty as taking part in one of these events.
Certain tax-exempt entities in the U.S. must disclose relationships and transactions with foreign entities. A BNF review of CABAM’s IRS 990 tax-exempt forms did not find listed any relationships and/or transactions with foreign entities.
Meanwhile, Mar’s nanotechnology company, Bactrac Technologies, was certified by the state of Minnesota in 2016 as an Angel Tax Credit fund, which allowed any company or individual that invested in BacTrac to get a 25 percent refundable tax credit.
Over the years, some of Mar’s ventures have closely aligned with the CCP’s priority timeline. For example: in 2009, when the Chinese Communist Party unveiled the Cultural Industries Reinvigoration Plan—a sweeping initiative designed to fuse commerce, propaganda, and global influence — the directive called for state-run art troupes and media companies to be modernized and restructured into commercially competitive yet ideologically loyal enterprises. Performing arts groups were mandated to embrace integrated electronic ticketing, international touring, and corporate-style management, all of which seem to have aligned with CCP priorities.
In response to the CCP’s call for “reinvigoration,” Mar not only organized and presided over hundreds of new art troupe performances, in 2011, he also opened a U.S. branch of a Chinese performing arts company — AC Orange (Juooo.com) — which featured the new type of ticketing system required by the CCP. Based in Minnesota and China, AC Orange quickly grew to become the largest performing arts promoter in China, and the only patented platform that “integrates the entire performing arts industry chain in China.” Mar’s business partner Geng Jun (CEO of AC Orange in Shenzhen) also serves as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which the New York Times has identified as “the top organization in China’s United Front System.” Another officer of AC Orange is German businessman Alex Mecl. Prior to joining Mar’s company, Mecl was the strategic global advisor for WeChat.
By vertically integrating content creation, venue management, and digital ticket sales, AC Orange functions not only as a commercial force but as a platform for global narrative setting.
This became evident with AC Orange’s 2017 cultural agreement with Wales-based Hijinx Theatre, which was signed at the UK-China High-Level People-to-People Dialogue and witnessed by then-Vice Premier Liu Yandong—a senior CCP official and longtime leader of the United Front Work Department. Though presented to the Welsh government as inclusive arts diplomacy, the partnership also advanced the CCP’s strategic goal of aligning foreign cultural producers with Chinese state interests. Liu Yandong’s role is central. As a former head of the UFWD and a CCP Politburo member, Liu was adept at weaving arts, education, and diaspora into influence operations. Her presence at the Hijinx–AC Orange signing indicates it was a big deal.
This investigation reveals Vincent Mar’s deep ties to a network of pro-Beijing organizations in Minnesota operating under the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. His leadership in groups like CABAM and AC Orange, alongside foreign affiliates, raises concerns about covert CCP activities in the U.S., potentially compromising local institutions and national security. This matters because it exposes how foreign influence can infiltrate American communities under the guise of cultural and business initiatives—a possibility which should prompt greater scrutiny of these networks.
Mar did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
In Part IV of this joint investigation by BNF and the GAI, we will delve deeper into Vincent Mar’s involvement in the CCP’s global surveillance network, raising critical questions about the extent of foreign influence operations in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Seamus Bruner is the Vice President and Executive Director of Research and Jedd McFatter is a Senior Research Fellow at Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute. McFatter is the author of FOOL’S GOLD, and Bruner is the author of CONTROLIGARCHS. Follow Jedd McFatter and @SeamusBruner.