House Panel Accuses Webull of Misrepresenting China Operations

A bipartisan House panel on Oct. 7 accused online brokerage Webull of misrepresenting where key employees worked and said its China-based operations put American investors’ financial data at risk.

The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said counsel for Webull Financial LLC told investigators in January and February 2025 that the U.S. brokerage “does not have any offices or employees based in the PRC” and that “all Firm employees are located in the United States.”

Records later provided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the brokerage industry’s self-regulator, identified 35 people associated with Webull Financial between January 2021 and December 2024 who reported either a residential address outside the United States or a Webull Financial office location in China, the committee report said.

The report alleges that Webull’s data practices expose U.S. investors to Chinese legal and surveillance risks, that it misrepresented where key employees worked and how they were supervised, and that its governance is dominated by China-linked control.

It also alleges that Webull’s regulatory controls were weaker than its assurances suggested, that a subsidiary accepted Chinese state funding conditional on Chinese Communist Party loyalty, and that its clearing and custody safeguards are concerning.

“Using technology providers in mainland China and an opaque China-linked ownership structure, Webull exposes its data to our foremost adversary,” committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said.

Ranking Member Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said Webull “should be forthright about its connections to the PRC, rather than seemingly seeking to minimize them.”

Webull has disputed the findings, with a company spokesperson telling The Epoch Times on Oct. 7 that the report contained “significant inaccuracies and unsupported conclusions” and was published “without ever seeking clarification from Webull.”

Webull said it cooperated with the investigation but had not heard from the committee for more than 20 months before the report’s release. The company said its U.S. business operates from St. Petersburg, Florida, and New York City and that U.S. customer data are stored domestically with access to sensitive information controlled from the United States.

China Workforce Remained Substantial

Webull told the committee that it had operated a China branch registered with FINRA from January 2020 until April 2024. The branch primarily handled customer service, with some employees providing overnight technical support, and Webull said it transferred the customer-service work to St. Petersburg.

Webull Corp.’s 2024 annual report says its China-based subsidiary, Hunan Weibu Information Technology Co., employed 731 people, or 61 percent of the group’s global workforce, as of Dec. 31, 2024.

By the end of 2025, Hunan Weibu employed 863 people—62 percent of Webull’s 1,396 employees. Webull describes its mainland China operations as limited to research and development and technical support.

The committee pointed to positions in China including “Clearing and Settlement Product Owner,” “Director of Finance,” and “Director of Customer Service.”

Webull had not answered The Epoch Times’ follow-up question about how its statements to Congress concerning U.S.-based employees relate to the large workforce disclosed at Hunan Weibu.

Who Can Access US Customer Data?

Webull’s SEC disclosures say personally identifiable information belonging to customers of Webull Financial is stored on servers in the United States. Non-U.S. employees cannot access that information without permission and oversight from U.S. personnel, according to the company.

The committee said the server locations and who can access the information are separate questions.

Its report says Webull’s Singapore unit operates the platform through which American customers view their accounts and place trades, while Hunan Weibu provides technology development and support. Webull privacy materials also state that personal information may be accessed by affiliates outside the United States to provide services.

The committee further cited privacy materials from a Webull affiliate identifying Tencent Cloud as a hosting provider. It said Webull did not produce records establishing what data Tencent hosted or whether Tencent-related access continued.

The report does not establish that Chinese authorities accessed Webull customers’ data.

The Justice Department’s Data Security Program, which took effect in 2025, regulates certain arrangements that give China-based companies or other people covered by the rules access to large amounts of sensitive U.S. data. The rules define access to include the ability to remotely obtain, read, copy, or view information.

The regulations give an example in which a U.S. company provides bulk personal financial data to a subsidiary in a country of concern to develop financial software. The ordinary exemption for transactions within a corporate group does not apply. In a related example, employees covered by the rule who access such data from a foreign branch to develop the software are engaging in restricted transactions.

By contrast, the regulation says some access for customer support directly connected to financial transactions can qualify for an exemption. A restricted transaction is not automatically prohibited; it may proceed if it meets applicable security requirements and other conditions.

In written responses to questions from The Epoch Times on Oct. 7 about how the Justice Department’s Data Security Program applies to U.S. financial data that may be accessed from China, Peter Jeydel, a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke, said the program has “a very broad definition of ‘access’” that includes “remote access by covered persons to covered data.”

Jeydel said the distinction between software development, technical support, and financial processing can matter when determining whether an exemption applies. The exemptions “generally do not apply to software development,” he said, but depending on the details, they “could apply to technical support and/or processing financial transactions.”

The Justice Department declined to comment on Webull.

Webull Now Carries Customer Cash

The committee said its concerns increased after Webull assumed greater responsibility for customer cash.

Webull has long relied on Apex Clearing, an outside U.S. firm, to complete securities trades and hold customer assets.

Webull completed a transition to a different arrangement in October 2025. Customer funds are now deposited with and carried directly by Webull rather than held at Apex, while Apex continues to clear and settle U.S. securities trades and hold customer securities, according to Webull’s annual filing.

The committee said that change places greater reliance on Webull’s own internal controls. It cited a separate November 2024 Securities and Exchange Commission case in which Webull Financial agreed to pay a $125,000 penalty over inadequate reports flagging potentially suspicious transactions. Webull settled without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, and the agency credited the firm’s cooperation and remedial efforts.

The committee recommended that Congress create foreign adversary protections for brokerage records that would prohibit broker-dealers from permitting access to U.S. customers’ personally identifiable information from foreign adversary jurisdictions.

It also proposed new requirements aimed at ensuring U.S. regulators can inspect overseas broker-dealer operations and expanding review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to certain foreign-controlled broker-dealers.