Charles Leclerc named in bizarre supersoldier research data breach report among other athlete

A Hunterbrook/Pablo Torre investigation alleges China-linked entities may have accessed athlete brainwave data through FocusCalm devices used in training

Charles Leclerc has been named in an investigation alleging that China could have stolen brainwave data from athletes via a focus-training headband for use in military research. This bizarre story comes after journalist Pablo Torre discussed his findings alongside Hunterbrook Media.

The investigation says that a Chinese government employee obtained software data from the headsets, which includes neural data from a number of high-profile sportspeople, including that of the Ferrari driver.

"I want to establish that this headband that I was just wearing, called the FocusCalm, is not just like a random thing," Torre said on his podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out. "It is actually incredibly popular in the world of sports because it enables athletes to track their brainwaves for performance reasons.

"You can see when you're calm, when you're stressed, 'you can get in the zone' is what the whole advertising around this is."

He continued: "These aren't just like any athletes: we're talking about Italy's famously focused Jannik Sinner, who trains with the FocusCalm. We're talking about the former number one women's tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek, who is using it every day. The number one alpine skier of all time, American gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, who uses it as also a bunch of English Premier League soccer players do."

According to the report, the parent company of FocusCalm, BrainCo, has been funded by entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party for over a decade.

"In recent years, BrainCo has largely shut down its US operation," Sam Koppelman of Hunterbrook said. "Moved to China where it's now going public at that $1.3billion valuation, and it has quietly become one of the most important companies in the world to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party."

According to these reports, the data received could be being used by companies in connection with military research, potentially even in 'supersoldier' projects.

Dr Riccardo Ceccarelli, a sports physician behind some of the best athletes in the world including Leclerc and the founder of Formula Medicine, said the following after he was asked if it was possible that China was using brainwaves to train its athletes:

"Yes, absolutely. Yes. We are still in contact with them now because they did also a device which is more wearable and that we can use in different experiment with aviation, with the military, because obviously the device has to be wearable and comfortable. So it is a synergy, is a project that is running since many years and obviously BrainCo was really, really supporting us."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Nita Farahany, a futurist and legal ethicist from Duke Law School, added her view.

"It's probably useful to look at the broader context of a lot of information that's come out about China's investments in brain-computer interface more recently, which then makes you think 'okay well why is China investing so significantly into brain-computer interface devices?' Clearly it has some military component to it, some dual use component to it."

She questioned BrainCo's part in this.

"Maybe BrainCo is part of the pathway, either to distribute it internationally and be able to collect biometrics from individuals in other places, and/or to be able to develop brain interface technology that is using these devices to be able to share commands. For example, within the military, or to be able to communicate with a device in an incredibly secure and very difficult to intercept manner."

Athletes named in the reporting include touring car racer Néstor “Bebu” Girolami and NFL player Logan Ryan, along with unnamed Manchester City footballers, members of Italy’s Olympic teams, and the US Olympic weightlifting and bobsleigh teams.