WASHINGTON — John McEntee, who ran the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the final year of President Donald Trump’s first term, has registered to lobby for a Hong Kong artificial intelligence company that is wholly owned by 4Paradigm, a Beijing AI developer the Commerce Department placed on its export blacklist in 2023, according to a registration filed with Congress late Tuesday.
The filing, posted at 11:14 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 27, lists the client as Shishuo AI International Limited, with an address at 100 Cyberport Road in Hong Kong, and describes its business simply as “AI company.” The single issue McEntee lists is “Trade restriction issue,” under the general trade code. The filing names 4Paradigm, at an address in Beijing’s Haidian District, as a foreign entity that owns 100 percent of the client and contributes $100,000 to the lobbying effort.
The new account is McEntee’s third client since he registered as a self-employed lobbyist last year, and all three are Chinese technology companies that appear on U.S. government restriction lists. Records filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act show McEntee has reported $1,275,000 in lobbying income from Tencent America and from optical-module maker Zhongji InnoLight since the third quarter of 2025.
McEntee did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to the email address listed on his registration. 4Paradigm, Tencent, InnoLight and the Commerce Department also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nothing in the filings suggests the registrations are improper; the Lobbying Disclosure Act requires exactly this kind of public disclosure when a lobbyist takes on a client.
The three clients
McEntee’s first registration, for Tencent America LLC, was posted on Sept. 5, 2025, and described the issue as an “Erroneous trade restriction designation.” Politico’s Influence newsletter reported at the time that Tencent had hired him over its listing on the Pentagon’s roster of Chinese military companies.
The second, for Zhongji InnoLight Co., was posted on Aug. 25, 2026, and listed “FCC issues, DOW issues related to client’s telecom business.” The Inquisitor previously reported on that registration.
The third is Shishuo AI. The table below summarizes the three registrations, drawn from the filings themselves.
| Client | Registration posted | Issue described | Foreign entity disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tencent America LLC | Sept. 5, 2025 | “Erroneous trade restriction designation” | Tencent Holdings Ltd. |
| Zhongji InnoLight Co. Ltd. | Aug. 25, 2026 | “FCC issues, DOW issues related to client’s telecom business” | Client is a Chinese company |
| Shishuo AI International Ltd. | Oct. 27, 2026 | “Trade restriction issue” | 4Paradigm (100% owner; contributes $100,000) |
What the government lists say
Each client is tied to a different federal list.
4Paradigm Technology Co. was added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in a rule effective March 2, 2023. The Commerce Department’s End-User Review Committee said it added 4Paradigm, along with Inspur Group, Loongson Technology and others, “for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of the China’s military modernization efforts.” Entity List companies need a license for items subject to U.S. export rules, and the 2023 rule said those applications would be reviewed under a “presumption of denial.” The listing also covers the aliases “4Paradigm,” “4th Paradigm” and “Fourth Paradigm.”
Tencent Holdings and Zhongji InnoLight both appear on the Pentagon’s Section 1260H list of “Chinese military companies,” the latest version of which was published in the Federal Register on June 10, 2026. The notice says Tencent “is indirectly affiliated with the PLA,” the People’s Liberation Army, and that InnoLight “is indirectly owned by SASAC,” China’s state asset regulator, and “directly affiliated with MIIT,” the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The 1260H list is not a sanctions list, but it carries consequences: Congress, in the fiscal 2024 defense authorization law, barred the Pentagon from contracting with listed companies beginning in June 2026. Tencent has disputed its designation; McEntee’s registration for the company calls it “erroneous.”
| Company | List | Agency | Date | Stated basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4Paradigm Technology Co. (owner of Shishuo AI) | Entity List | Commerce (BIS) | Effective March 2, 2023 | Acquiring U.S.-origin items “in support of the China’s military modernization efforts” |
| Tencent Holdings Ltd. | Section 1260H list | Defense | Notice published June 10, 2026 | “Indirectly affiliated with the PLA” |
| Zhongji InnoLight Co. Ltd. | Section 1260H list | Defense | Notice published June 10, 2026 | “Indirectly owned by SASAC and directly affiliated with MIIT” |
The money
McEntee has filed quarterly reports for Tencent for every quarter since the account began, and one quarterly report so far for InnoLight. The Shishuo registration is new, so no income for that client has been reported yet; the first report covering it will be due in January for the fourth quarter.
The figures below come from the quarterly LD-2 reports. Registration statements, which do not report income, are excluded.
| Quarter | Client | Income reported | Agencies listed | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | Tencent America | $175,000 | Treasury | Oct. 15, 2025 |
| Q4 2025 | Tencent America | $225,000 | Treasury | Dec. 10, 2025 |
| Q1 2026 | Tencent America | $225,000 | Treasury | May 19, 2026 |
| Q2 2026 | Tencent America | $225,000 | Treasury | July 20, 2026 |
| Q3 2026 | Tencent America | $225,000 | Treasury | Oct. 21, 2026 |
| Q3 2026 | Zhongji InnoLight | $200,000 | Defense; FCC | Oct. 21, 2026 |
| Total | $1,275,000 |
| Client | Quarters reported | Total income |
|---|---|---|
| Tencent America | 5 | $1,075,000 |
| Zhongji InnoLight | 1 | $200,000 |
| Shishuo AI (4Paradigm) | 0 (new client) | Not yet reported |
| All clients | $1,275,000 |
The Tencent reports each describe the specific issues lobbied as “No specific issues” under the trade code and list the Treasury Department as the agency contacted. The InnoLight report for the third quarter lists “Trade restrictions” and names the Defense Department and the Federal Communications Commission.
Since Sept. 5, 2025, the department has used “Department of War” as a secondary name under an executive order signed by President Trump, which is why the InnoLight registration refers to “DOW issues.”
Who McEntee is
McEntee served as a personal aide to Trump during the first term and returned to the White House in 2020 to lead the Presidential Personnel Office, the office that vets and places political appointees across the executive branch. The Tencent quarterly reports list his prior covered position as “Assistant to the President.” The InnoLight and Shishuo registrations leave the covered-position field blank.
His registration lists him as a self-employed “Advisor/Consultant” based in Newport Beach, Calif., and he is the only lobbyist named on all three accounts. He does not lobby through a firm, and no other clients appear under his registrant ID in the Senate’s lobbying database.
What a “trade restriction issue” can mean
The filings do not say what McEntee is asking the government to do for Shishuo AI. Companies on the Entity List can seek removal by petitioning the End-User Review Committee, which is chaired by the Commerce Department and includes the State, Defense and Energy departments, under procedures set out in 15 CFR 744.16. Companies on the 1260H list can ask the Pentagon to reconsider their designation.
A “trade restriction issue” could also concern how the Entity List applies to affiliates. In September 2025 the Commerce Department issued an interim final rule extending Entity List restrictions to companies at least 50 percent owned by listed parties, a change that would reach a wholly owned subsidiary such as Shishuo AI. Commerce then suspended that rule for one year, effective Nov. 10, 2025. The suspension “is set to end November 9, 2026, absent a future extension,” according to the notice, eight days from now. The filing does not say whether the Shishuo AI engagement relates to that rule, and the Inquisitor has asked McEntee and 4Paradigm to clarify.
4Paradigm
4Paradigm markets enterprise AI software, including a generative AI platform called SageGPT, to banking, insurance, securities, retail, energy, healthcare and manufacturing customers, according to the company’s website. It is headquartered in Beijing. The Shishuo AI address on McEntee’s filing is at Cyberport, a Hong Kong government-backed technology park.
Lobbyists for Chinese companies are common in Washington. What stands out in McEntee’s filings is the concentration: each of the three clients of a former senior White House official is a Chinese technology company, or a subsidiary of one, that appears on a U.S. restriction list.
The disclosure system
Lobbyists for foreign commercial companies generally register under the Lobbying Disclosure Act rather than the Foreign Agents Registration Act, so long as the work does not principally benefit a foreign government or political party. The Justice Department’s FARA guidance describes that exemption. Under the LDA, a lobbyist must register within 45 days of first making a lobbying contact or being retained to make one, and must report income from each client every quarter, rounded to the nearest $10,000.
The Shishuo registration lists an effective date of Oct. 27, the same day it was posted, meaning the formal engagement began this week. The Inquisitor will report the first income figure when McEntee files his fourth-quarter report, due Jan. 20.
Requests for comment
The Inquisitor sent questions to McEntee; to 4Paradigm’s public relations office; to Tencent’s registered lobbying contact; to InnoLight; and to the Commerce Department’s Office of Public Affairs. Questions included what outcome Shishuo AI is seeking, whether McEntee has contacted Commerce or the Pentagon on its behalf, and whether 4Paradigm has petitioned for removal from the Entity List. None had responded by publication. This story will be updated with any responses.
Methodology
Income figures are taken from LD-2 quarterly reports posted in the Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure Act database under registrant ID 401109892, and exclude registration statements. Designation details come from the Federal Register notices linked above. Dates are when filings were posted, in Eastern time.
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