(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it received 848 pages of documents revealing the contract materials and communications related to a $1 billion contract for face masks between the California Office of Emergency Services and the Chinese Communist Party linked BYD.

BYD reportedly has been barred by law from some federal contracts for providing faulty electric vehicles and lithium batteries to American buyers.

The documents reveal that the Office of Emergency Services Assistant Chief Counsel admits that they deviated from their normal procurement process for this contract. Additionally, in the contract between Office of Emergency Services and BYD, BYD uses a different name, Global Healthcare Product Solutions, LLC., and BYD provides no liability or warranty for the masks if they are faulty.

The records were produced in response to a Judicial Watch California Public Records request sent to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services for all records and communications related to the state's contract for masks with BYD.

The records include an April 7, 2020, email from the Office of Emergency Services Assistant Chief Counsel Jennifer Bollinger to Oscar Su, Senior Director of BYD America, in which Bollinger states, "Our normal procurement process has been deviated from given the exigency of the situation."

In an April 6, 2020, email Stella Lu, the president of BYD Motors (the guarantor of the masks) tells Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the Office of Emergency Services that they should, "open champagne tomorrow morning at our conference call," where they will finalize the purchase by California of $1 billion worth of BYD masks.