A foundation whose beneficial owner is a former Shanghai criminal-investigation detective with longstanding ties to organizations in the Chinese communist regime’s “United Front” system has bought a commercial building roughly 650 feet from White House grounds.
The Philip Qiu and Family Foundation purchased 729 15th Street NW for $8.4 million in July, according to District of Columbia land records. The foundation was incorporated in Delaware in February 2016 and is registered in Washington as a foreign nonprofit corporation. A D.C. filing made six months before the acquisition lists Philip Qiu, also known as Qiu Feili, as its beneficial owner.
The foundation’s latest publicly available federal tax return, covering 2024, reported no revenue and no assets at year-end. Nineteen months later, D.C. records identified the foundation as the purchaser of the property. Public records do not disclose how the acquisition was financed or what the foundation plans to do with the building.
The University of New Haven said in April 2024 that Qiu began his career as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Team in Shanghai before moving into biotechnology. The university said its Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science recognized him as a distinguished fellow.
A separate Shanghai Jiao Tong University account from 2011 said Qiu had participated in special forces training. The account does not say he served in a special forces unit or identify who provided the training.
Financing Not Publicly Disclosed
The foundation’s latest publicly available Form 990-PF reported $11,259 in expenses in 2024, according to IRS records.
A search of D.C. land records did not identify a deed of trust or other recorded real estate financing naming the foundation in connection with the July purchase.
The foundation may have received contributions after 2024 or used financing that was not recorded as a lien against the property.
The records do document the seller’s previous financing. Jemal’s Securities Building LLC had pledged the property under a commercial financing arrangement with RGA Reinsurance Company. RGA released its lien on the building immediately before the deed to the Qiu foundation was recorded on July 23.
The seller’s lien release and the deed to the foundation were recorded consecutively at 1:32 p.m. The RGA documents concern the seller’s prior financing and do not identify the source of funds used by the foundation.
The foundation did not respond to questions about how the purchase was financed or how it intends to use the property. Douglas Development, which is associated with the seller, also did not respond to a question about whether seller financing or another deferred-payment arrangement was provided.
Shanghai United Front and Overseas-Chinese Roles
Qiu has held senior positions in Shanghai organizations involved in overseas Chinese affairs.
The Shanghai Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese listed him among 45 standing committee members of its 12th committee in 2022. He does not appear on the federation’s 13th standing-committee roster published in December 2025.
Qiu remains chairman of the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Affairs Development Foundation, which identifies the Shanghai federation as its supervising organization.
His foundation has repeatedly worked with officials and organizations in Shanghai’s United Front system.
In 2024, Qiu’s foundation co-hosted a five-day exchange for 75 Hong Kong youths under the guidance of the Shanghai Overseas Friendship Association. Shanghai University said one of the program’s primary goals was to deepen participants’ understanding of the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Republic of China, while strengthening their national pride and sense of ownership. The itinerary included a visit to the site of the CCP’s First National Congress.
A 2023 program “Same Root, Same Heart,” initiated and funded by Qiu, brought Hong Kong secondary-school students to Shanghai for five days under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal United Front Work Department and the Shanghai Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.
Other official accounts document Qiu working alongside senior United Front officials. At a Chongming district agricultural-support event, Qiu jointly unveiled a project with Huang Hong, executive deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal United Front Work Department. United Front officials from the district government and Shanghai Jiao Tong University also attended.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has identified the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese as part of the CCP’s broader United Front system, which the party uses to build relationships with and influence individuals and organizations outside its formal structure.
Former Shanghai Detective
Qiu’s earlier law-enforcement background has also remained connected to his later work in forensic science and education.
The University of New Haven described him as a former law-enforcement officer who began as a detective in Shanghai before shifting to biotechnology and philanthropy. At the 2024 event, Qiu received a certificate recognizing him as a distinguished fellow of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University said in 2011 that Qiu had previously participated in special forces training. During a simulated red-blue confrontation at an executive MBA team building exercise, the university said Qiu served as a commander and recorded the exercise’s best individual shooting result.
The university did not identify whether the earlier training was military, police, or otherwise.
Qiu’s Shanghai foundation has since continued working in law-enforcement and forensic-science circles. In November 2025, it cohosted an international conference on judicial, police, and criminal-investigation science education with Shanghai University of Political Science and Law and the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee institute. Qiu delivered remarks and chaired the closing ceremony.
The Daily Caller, which previously reported on the Washington property purchase, characterized Qiu as a “CCP intelligence official.”
Qiu did not respond to requests to clarify his former law-enforcement service and special-forces training or to address the Daily Caller’s characterization.
Washington Entities
D.C. corporate records show that Qiu and Jenny Liu were listed as governors of the Philip Qiu and Family Foundation in 2024. A January 2026 filing lists Qiu as its beneficial owner and gives 1218 16th Street NW as its principal address.
In December 2024, the foundation registered “U.S. Chinese Culture Research Center” as a trade name, with Qiu identified as the authorized official.
The same address is used by Philip Qiu and Associates LLC, a separate D.C. company whose January 2026 filing also lists Qiu as its beneficial owner.
Public records do not identify which of Qiu’s organizations, if any, will operate from the newly acquired 15th Street property.
Federal Security Questions
The building’s proximity to the White House does not by itself place the transaction under the real estate jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Under 31 C.F.R. Part 802, CFIUS can review certain real estate transactions involving foreign persons when property falls within specified areas around designated military installations and other covered sites. The White House is not listed in the regulation’s current Appendix A.
CFIUS regulations define a “foreign person” to include an entity over which control is exercised or exercisable by a foreign national, foreign government, or foreign entity.
D.C. corporate records identify Qiu as the foundation’s beneficial owner, but the publicly available records reviewed do not establish his citizenship or provide enough information about the foundation’s governance to determine whether it meets that definition.
The Epoch Times asked the Treasury Department about the applicable CFIUS rules. Treasury did not respond by publication.
The Secret Service was separately asked whether it has a role in assessing ownership changes near the White House and whether there was any publicly releasable review of the 729 15th Street NW transaction.
Secret Service spokesperson Joseph Routh declined to comment.
The foundation has not disclosed whether it, the U.S. Chinese Culture Research Center, or another Qiu-associated organization will use the property, and it did not respond to questions about the building’s intended use or the source of the purchase funds.
