FBI agents raided Lancaster City Hall and the homes of two senior city officials on April 15, targeting an alleged corruption scheme linked to Chinese electric bus manufacturer BYD, the New York Post reported Saturday.
Lancaster Vice Mayor Marvin Crist and city Councilmember Raj Malhi were escorted from their homes at gunpoint in early-morning raids as agents seized documents, phones, computers and other electronic devices. A fourth location, the Bel-Air home of a developer connected to Malhi’s campaigns, was also searched.
The federal search warrant sought “information pertaining to anything of value given by BYD, directly or indirectly, to an elected official, candidate, committee or political action committee,” a source with detailed knowledge of the operation shared with the New York Post. The probe covers activity from 2018 to the present.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed.
Shenzhen-based BYD has spent at least $250 million in Lancaster since 2013, including $53 million building a 550,000-square-foot electric bus factory. The facility employs more than 750 workers and is the company’s largest in the United States. Lancaster’s public transit fleet went fully electric in 2020, running BYD-made buses.
The company has donated to the campaigns of both Crist and Malhi, as well as to political action committees that backed them, the Post’s source said.
The investigation centers on more than campaign money. “The concern was that the buses could be used for spying,” the source told the Post. Agents investigating Malhi “approached many people, asked them to wear a wire to record their calls,” the source added.
BYD cars are barred from U.S. roads by a near 100% tariff, in part over fears that the vehicles carry sensors and software that could serve as surveillance tools. The buses running in American cities face similar scrutiny.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, who has led the city for roughly 20 years, said he was unaware of any wrongdoing. “I’ve worked with them for almost 20 years,” Parris said of Crist and Malhi. “They’ve always been honorable, from everything I can see.”
The raids came less than 24 hours after a city council election in which Crist did not seek reelection after 16 years on the council. Malhi narrowly lost his seat to a challenger in that same election.
