220 Tons of Spandex: What’s Going On with Watchtower’s Textile Imports?
My first entry in the X-panded category. Based on https://x.com/pimitopomo/status/1866207479270371536
X-PANDED
Oliver
4/12/20252 min read
So far, my research has turned up hundreds of business entities inexplicably linked to the Watchtower organization — some dormant, some active, many hidden in plain sight. But in this post, I want to focus on two of the stranger ones: companies that seem to operate out of a major Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters and are quietly importing massive quantities of women’s and girls’ clothing from China.
The companies in question — Vertical Expeditor and Makino Structures — are both registered at 1000 Red Mills Rd #9, Wallkill, NY. If that address sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the site of the Wallkill Bethel complex, a key operational hub for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States.
So what are two nondescript businesses doing at a Watchtower facility? And more importantly: why are they bringing in hundreds of tons of textiles?
A recent bill of lading I uncovered shows Makino Structures receiving a shipment of “girls knitted pullovers, pants, jackets, tops, and shorts” from a manufacturer in Hangzhou. The weight of that single shipment? Over 13,000 kg — and it’s just one of many. Over the last two years, the combined imports from these two companies total over 220 tons of textiles.
This isn’t a handful of costumes for a JW Broadcasting drama or some low-volume Bethel sewing project. This is industrial-scale clothing movement.
Naturally, I asked myself — could this be for disaster relief? But again, that doesn't line up with Watchtower's usual pattern. They tend to rely on congregation donations during relief efforts, not overseas wholesale imports.
Then I started looking into the names associated with these companies. That’s where things got even stranger.
One of the key individuals tied to these operations is John D. Larson, a long-time senior Bethelite. From what I’ve been able to gather, he appears to be the son of Max Larson, who held a prominent position in the organization’s publishing operations for many years. The Larson name has come up often in connection with leadership roles at headquarters, making this link all the more notable. When someone like that shows up on import documentation tied to secretive business entities, it’s hard not to take notice.
Another name that appears is Richard Moake, a Watchtower legal veteran whose name surfaces repeatedly across official documents. These aren't anonymous frontmen — they’re high-ranking insiders with influence and access.
The companies in China and Hong Kong that send the goods? They don’t seem to serve other clients. They ship exclusively to Wallkill.
So let’s recap:
Two obscure companies, both registered at a Watchtower facility.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of imported textiles.
Involvement from known high-ranking Bethel officials.
No clear explanation for where the items are going — or why.
This isn’t a tabloid story — it’s all traceable through public supply chain databases like ImportYeti and ImportKey. But the question still remains:
What is the Watchtower organization doing with hundreds of tons of women’s clothing?
I’m not pointing fingers, but I am raising eyebrows. If you’ve got leads, documents, or connections — reach out. Because something about all of this feels off. And when people at the top of a religious nonprofit are quietly running clothing imports through corporate shells, that’s not just curious — it’s worth investigating.
SOURCES:
https://www.importyeti.com/company/vertical-expeditor
https://www.importyeti.com/company/makino-structures
https://apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry/#search