A husband-and-wife team named John Strand and Roslyn Layton founded a website called China Tech Threat in 2019. Layton regularly contributes to media outlets like Bloomberg Law and Forbes, penning articles about technology, cryptocurrency and railroad regulation, while Strand is a well-known telecom consultant with clients worldwide.
Now they’re being sued for allegedly being part of a scheme funded by what a Chinese chipmaker claims is a campaign by American tech companies to undermine competitors.
The lawsuit comes at a moment of heightened bipartisan political hand-wringing about Chinese technology, as the United States and other western countries move to crack down on Chinese-owned technology brands such as Huawei, ZTE and TikTok.