Name: Missouri Judge Finds CCP Liable for $24 Billion for Hoarding COVID-19 Protective Equipment
Uploaded: 2025-03-10T13:21:39.000Z
Description: A Missouri judge has found China’s communist leadership liable in a multi-billion dollar case over the regime’s hoarding of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's National Security Correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

NTD Plus

News

News with integrity, from the U.S. and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

Pennsylvania Lawsuit Accuses AI Chatbots of Posing as Doctors

Cary Dunst

Jeffrey Tucker on the Collapse of Spirit Airlines

Sam Wang is a Washington correspondent for NTD News based in Washington, D.C. Sam covers politics on Capitol Hill, and U.S.-China relations. 

Sam Wang

Citizens React: Trump Revives Presidential Fitness Test

Jason Blair is a national correspondent for NTD News based in California. 

Jason Blair

Rubio Says It’s ‘In China’s Interest’ to Tell Iran to Open Hormuz Strait

Christina Corona is a California-based reporter for NTD News. She primarily covers California news, politics, and entertainment.  

Christina Corona

Palisades Fire Suspect Fuel by Anger, Resentment of the Wealthy, Federal Prosecutors Say

Chris Bob is a reporter for NTD and a host of "Profiles of Service." He is also a small business owner. Chris graduated from Union College with a concentration in politics and religion in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Chris Bob

Indiana, Ohio GOP Primaries Spotlight Key Races Ahead of 2026 Midterms

Rachel Acenas is an experienced journalist and TV news reporter and anchor covering breaking stories and contributing original news content for NTD's digital team.

Rachel Acenas

Arian Pasdar is an international correspondent for NTD News based in South America. His reporting focuses on immigration and key events in Latin America.

Arian Pasdar

World News

Middle East

Iran

Pentagon Says Ceasefire Is Not Over Despite Iran's Recent Acts of Aggression

Trump Waiting for an Iranian Leader to Emerge: Analyst

Lawsuit Accuses Chinese Cars of Spying on Israel

US News

State News

California

Harris Endorses Bass for LA Mayor Race

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 6)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 5)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 4)

Don Ma is an anchor and senior business correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Don is the anchor and producer of NTD's "Business Matters," which airs weekdays at 4:30 pm ET.

Don Ma

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 3)

Arleen Richards is NTD's legal correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers all major legal stories. Arleen holds a Doctor of Law (J.D.).


Arleen Richards

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 2)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 1)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (April 30)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (April 29)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (April 28)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (April 27)

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Issues Shelter-In-Place Order for Americans in Bahrain

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Health News

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

A Missouri judge has found China’s communist leadership liable in a multi-billion dollar case over the regime’s hoarding of medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The <a href="https://admin4.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2025/03/08/id5822262-State-of-Missouri-v.-Peoples-Republic-of-China-Judgment.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">judgement</a> found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was liable for $24 billion in damages to Missouri for exacerbating the pandemic by obstructing American access to medical supplies.

“This is a landmark victory for Missouri and the United States in the fight to hold China accountable for unleashing COVID-19 on the world,” said Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in a statement.

The State of Missouri brought the case against China, its communist leadership, and several subordinate departments and institutions including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some intelligence leaders believe that the COVID-19 virus originated.

District Judge Stephen Limbaugh rendered the decision by default after officials from the CCP did not appear to plead their side of the case, a common outcome in cases dealing with foreign entities.

The judgement took particular care to underscore the CCP’s role in obfuscating information about the virus early on during the initial outbreak in China, as well as the regime’s efforts to hoard personal protective equipment (PPE), causing shortages in the United States.

The case found that “China engaged in a campaign to suppress information about the existence, scope, and then human-to-human transmissibility, of COVID-19,” according to the judgement.

“China’s pattern of actions strongly suggests that it had knowledge of the existence and human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus as early as September 2019 … [and] engaged in a deliberate campaign to suppress information about the COVID-19 pandemic in order to support its campaign to hoard PPE from Missouri and an unsuspecting world.”

The Epoch Times <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/giving-the-right-name-to-the-virus-causing-a-worldwide-pandemic-2-3277200">reported</a> in early 2020 that CCP officials knew about the outbreak in 2019 but had deployed the regime’s vast censorship apparatus to suppress the spread of information related to the virus.

The judgement also cites a U.S. State Department fact sheet from 2021 which notes that the CCP devoted “enormous resources to deceit and disinformation” about the virus in order to cover up the origins of the virus and obscure its role in the early handling of the outbreak.

Evidence brought against the CCP by Missouri expands on that by supplying evidence that the regime began quarantining doctors and their families in Wuhan province in late 2019, despite maintaining that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmissibility until the end of January 2020.

It is with this secret knowledge of the virus, the judgment found, that the CCP began gobbling up global supplies of PPE and other medical equipment, depleting supplies in Australia, Canada, and the United States before those nations had awareness of the gravity of the virus emerging in China.

“During the early months of the pandemic, Missouri spent millions more on PPE than it otherwise would have because of Defendants’ hoarding,” the judgement said.

In all, the evidence compiled by Missouri found that the state had lost more than $8 billion related to PPE alone, both due to inflated prices and tax revenue losses.

Further, the state found the CCP had fulfilled treble statute requirement, thereby permitting the court to triple the amount of the damages to more than $24 billion plus a compounding interest of just under 4 percent.

Bailey <a href="https://x.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1898155878605377767">wrote</a> on the social media platform X that the sum was six-times larger than the previous largest judgement in Missouri history, suggesting further state suits against the CCP may follow.

“Missouri is leading the fight,” he wrote.

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/missouri-judge-finds-ccp-liable-for-24-billion-for-hoarding-covid-19-protective-equipment-5822260">The Epoch Times</a></em>

Latest

China News

04_Top Stories

COVID-19

Latest Clips

Management

Andrew Thornebrooke is a national security correspondent for The Epoch Times covering China-related issues with a focus on defense, military affairs, and national security. He holds a master's in military history from Norwich University.

Andrew Thornebrooke

02_Second Lead

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.

Missouri Judge Finds CCP Liable for $24 Billion for Hoarding COVID-19 Protective Equipment

Full Episodes