BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — Kevin O'Leary, an investor in the proposed 40,000- acre Stratos data center campus in Box Elder County, accused two Utah groups opposing the project of being funded by the Chinese government.
O'Leary made the accusation on Fox News, targeting Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies.
"Who would want us to stop building our electrical grid? Who would want to stop us from having compute capacity to develop AI? Which adversary would want that? There's only one. It's China." O'Leary said.
WATCH: More than 2,300 protest filings challenge water application for Box Elder County data center
In a social media exchange, Gabi Finlayson of Elevate Strategies pushed back on the claim.
"If we were Chinese operatives, we would be the worst operatives in the entire world. Someone alert Beijing that the payment portal to Jackie and I's Amex bills is somehow broken," Finlayson said.
Elizabeth Hutchings of Alliance for a Better Utah also denied the accusation.
When asked by FOX 13 News Anchor Bob Evans if Alliance for a Better Utah is funded by the Chinese government, Hutchings said, “No. I, would probably get paid a lot more if I was. I would hope if I were doing some foreign international espionage, but no, we are not. We're funded by a lot of grassroots donors, and a lot of people from around Utah that believe in what we do, and that's as simple as that." Hutchings said.
In the social media exchange Finlayson and colleague Jackie Morgan responded directly to O'Leary.
"You know, it's not every day you get called out by first and last name on Fox News by a Canadian billionaire trying to ruin my state, but here we are. Kevin, are you OK? But after sitting with this for a moment, we decided to take it as a compliment because first of all, how are these men scared of us? Have you met us?" Finlayson said.
O'Leary responded by doubling down on his call for financial transparency.
"What are we -- talking about? I want a forensic auditor who's funding their platforms. Who is it? So these are proxies for the Chinese government is my argument. And if they're not, because I want them to be able to defend their name to Gabby, come out, come out wherever you are." O'Leary said.
Responding to O’Leary’s transparency argument, Finlayson and Morgan said, "We're just saying we should maybe look into people that stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars off this project and let's be so for real and so clear, that is not us. It is not us." Finlayson said.
O'Leary continued to press the issue.
"And they should thank me for this promotion I'm giving them right now. And let's shine the light of transparency on what you're doing because they're also going after the leadership in Utah itself, these two cells." O'Leary said.
Morgan responded directly.
"Well, Kevin, you say that like it's a scandal, and it's not because we are damn proud of the fact that we will continue to be shining a light on the corruption and insanity that is going on in this state, not just with this project, but with many others." Morgan said.
Alliance for a Better Utah responded online to O’Leary’s claims by posting a video on Facebook asking for donations, with Chinese-sounding music playing underneath.
O'Leary says he is putting his forensic accountants to work to determine who is funding opposition to the data center in Utah. He says the center is necessary to stay ahead of China in artificial intelligence development.
