{"id":5234,"date":"2022-10-07T21:25:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T21:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?p=5234"},"modified":"2022-10-07T21:25:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T21:25:33","slug":"breaking-konnech-election-software-ceo-who-was-arrested-earlier-for-ties-to-china-and-labeled-significant-flight-risk-caught-with-luggage-on-way-to-mi-airport-left-cell-phone-behi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?p=5234","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Konnech Election Software CEO Who Was Arrested Earlier For Ties to China and Labeled \u201cSignificant Flight Risk\u201d Caught With Luggage On Way To MI Airport &#8211; Left Cell Phone Behind &#8211; Has \u201cSubstantial Ties to China\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>October 7, 2022 at 05:18PM <em><strong>BREAKING: Konnech Election Software CEO Who Was Arrested Earlier For Ties to China and Labeled \u201cSignificant Flight Risk\u201d Caught With Luggage On Way To MI Airport &#8211; Left Cell Phone Behind &#8211; Has \u201cSubstantial Ties to China\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese were legitimate people who believed that this software posed a national security risk to the United States of America, and they were working with us closely to try to stop this from being in place during the midterms,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThe focus point was always we needed to remove this software from the election, but taking a step further, there were a lot of other concerns that the bureau had.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn fact, the president of this company sits on the board of another election company that is one of the founding members of DHS\u2019s election security task force. So you want to talk about the fox in the hen house? It\u2019s all right there,\u201d Engelbrecht noted about Konnech CEO Eugene Yu\u2019s membership on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/person\/eugene-yu\" rel=\"\">Votem Corp.\u2019s Board of Advisors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Phillips added, \u201cThe same individual who programmed this election mess, PollChief, was also the lead programmer for the Confucius Institute internal comms [communication] mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeaning how they exchange data between here and China; this same person built the entire app that runs all of these elections across the United States. This is a red Chinese communist op run against the United States by Chinese operatives, and it\u2019s a disaster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The FBI agents indicated that Konnech had already \u201cbeen on their radar\u201d and that there were \u201clots of other problems\u201d with the U.S. election company, including \u201cbanking issues\u201d and problems involving the company\u2019s overseas operations in \u201cAustralia\u201d and \u201cCanada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The media brutalized Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips for making accusations against Konnech. Konnech almost immediately sued them for reporting the truth about what they found.<\/p>\n<h2>On Tuesday, \u00a0the LA County District Attorney\u2019s office<a href=\"https:\/\/da.lacounty.gov\/media\/news\/head-election-worker-management-company-arrested-connection-theft-personal-data\"> announced<\/a> that Eugene Yu was arrested and taken into custody for suspected theft of information on voters stored on servers in Communist China.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-caption\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Konnech CEO Eugene Yu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>Konnech distributes and sells its proprietary PollChief software, which is an election worker management system that was utilized by the county in the last California election. The software assists with poll worker assignments, communications, and payroll. PollChief requires that workers submit personal identifying information, which is retained by the Konnech.<\/p>\n<p>Under its $2.9 million, five-year contract with the county, Konnech was supposed to securely maintain the data and that only United States citizens and permanent residents have access to it.<\/p>\n<p>District Attorney investigators found that in contradiction to the contract, information was stored on servers in the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n<p>The East Lansing Police Department and Ingham County Sheriff\u2019s Office in Michigan also assisted in the investigation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>It\u2019s now being reported that the Konnech CEO is considered a major flight risk.<\/h2>\n<p>During a Zoom call yesterday, Ingham County Prosecutors Office Unit Chief Nicole Matusko called Mr. Yu a significant flight risk and explained how they believed he was attempting to potentially flee the United States.<\/p>\n<p>I will note for the record that Mr. Yu is a significant flight risk.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Mr. Yu has substantial ties to the country of China.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He maintains relationships with family and friends in China.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He also has extensive and significant business relationships in the country of China.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He also has business relationships with other countries outside of the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In addition, when he was arrested yesterday, he was arrested with a backpack or luggage, and he was, in fact, on his way to the airport. I do not have confirmation as to where he was going, but he was on his way to leaving the state of Michigan.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In addition to having his luggage with him, I was notified yesterday that his cell phone was left at his residence in Meridian Township. Mr. Yu is the owner of a. business or businesses that are technology based. He is a technologically savvy individual, so in our view\u2014leaving his cell phone behind when he was going to another state is suspicious.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/03\/technology\/konnech-election-conspiracy-theories.html\">The New York Times<\/a> published an article defending Mr. Yu on the same day of his arrest. The article attacked\u00a0conspiracy theorists or \u201cfar right election deniers,\u201d who believe the election was stolen from President Trump in 2020 and painted the Konnech CEO as a victim.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the two years since former President Donald J. Trump lost his re-election bid, conspiracy theorists have subjected election officials and private companies that play a major role in elections to a barrage of outlandish voter fraud claims.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>But the attacks on Konnech demonstrate how far-right election deniers are also giving more attention to new and more secondary companies and groups. Their claims often find a receptive online audience, which then uses the assertions to raise doubts about the integrity of American elections.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Unlike other election technology companies targeted by election deniers, Konnech, a company based in Michigan with 21 employees in the United States and six in Australia, has nothing to do with collecting, counting, or reporting ballots in American elections. Instead, it helps clients like Los Angeles County and Allen County, Ind., with basic election logistics, such as scheduling poll workers.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Konnech said none of the accusations were true. It said that all the data for its American customers were stored on servers in the United States and that it had no ties to the Chinese government.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>But the claims have had consequences for the firm. Konnech\u2019s founder and chief executive, Eugene Yu, an American citizen who immigrated from China in 1986, went into hiding with his family after receiving threatening messages. Other employees also feared for their safety and started working remotely after users posted details about Konnech\u2019s headquarters, including the number of cars in the company\u2019s parking lot.<\/p>\n<p>After the news of the Konnech CEO\u2019s arrest, The New York Times did not remove their article that made him look like a \u201cvictim\u201d of right-wing election deniers, to their readers. Instead, they added this ridiculous note to the top of the article, saying they would continue to \u201creport\u201d on this story. Someone should tell Stuart A. Thompson that this is not \u201creporting,\u201d that it\u2019s helping the Democrats to divide and pit Americans against each other with these fake news stories.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Articles like the one above by the New York Times that are written in conjunction with major players in the Democrat Party who are pushing the big lie that anyone who questions the results of the 2020 election should be shamed and cast out of normal society are a serious threat to our Republic.<\/p>\n<p>MICHIGAN CONNECTION TO KONNECH:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wdet.org\/2022\/10\/07\/detroit-terminates-contract-with-election-software-company-named-in-data-breach-investigation\/\">WDET<\/a> reports \u2013 Detroit had a similar contract with Konnech for the use of its PollChief software, which is said to have the ability to send mass letters, emails, and phone calls to polling locations and record responses of election workers. The $320,000 contract, approved last year by Detroit City Council, was set to expire in June 2024. According to city and federal records, Konnech had worked with the city on several specific applications for more than a decade, including ballot \u201cfast-scanning\u201d software and a mobile app for Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) returned ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Following news of Yu\u2019s arrest, Detroit terminated its current contract with Konnech. In a statement, City Clerk Janice Winfrey upheld the integrity of Detroit\u2019s election process and the security of employee information.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Michigan Secretary of State\u2019s office, Detroit is the only Michigan municipality that contracts with Konnech. The company did not respond to WDET\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKonnech operates a payroll management system for poll workers that are used by Detroit and has never had access to voter data or election data,\u201d said Angela Benander, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. \u201cThe Michigan Bureau of Elections does not contract with Konnech.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s chief election officer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, appears to be part of a broader effort by media and top Democrat officials to target and destroy anyone who dares to call out election fraud in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>In April, while speaking at a Trump rally in Washington, MI, Republican SOS candidate Kristina Karamo was threatened by Jocelyn Benson\u2019s close friend, MI AG Dana Nessel, with \u201ca felony\u201d for questioning the results of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>When citizens and grassroots groups get too close to the truth, the Democrat Party and their allies in the media behave like a cobra that\u2019s been cornered and strike out at them, hoping to deal a hard-hitting blow that will frighten and intimidate them into silence.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that the New York Times published an article about Mr. Yu being a victim of Trump-supporting Americans on the same day he was potentially attempting to flee the country after being accused of committing a serious crime against American citizens that involved sending their private information to be stored in China is all the evidence anyone needs to show how sick these people are.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>via The Gateway Pundit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October 7, 2022 at 05:18PM BREAKING: Konnech Election Software CEO Who Was Arrested Earlier For Ties to China and Labeled \u201cSignificant Flight Risk\u201d Caught With Luggage On Way To MI Airport &#8211; Left Cell Phone Behind &#8211; Has \u201cSubstantial Ties to China\u201d \u201cThese were legitimate people who believed that this software posed a national security [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-5234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-sbn"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=892%2C584&ssl=1",892,584,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=300%2C196&ssl=1",300,196,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=768%2C503&ssl=1",768,503,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=892%2C584&ssl=1",892,584,true],"rpg_gallery_admin_thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"rpg_gallery_thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=892%2C584&ssl=1",892,584,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=892%2C584&ssl=1",892,584,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Peter Santilli"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?cat=8\" rel=\"category\">Featured Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Featured Stories","comment_count":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/plD2r-1mq","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Screen-Shot-2022-10-07-at-5.17.42-PM.png?fit=892%2C584&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}