Webull Shares Fall About 20% After House China Committee Report Alleges Structural Ties to Beijing

Webull's stock took a hit Wednesday after the House Select Committee on China published a report calling the Florida-based brokerage a national security risk.

The committee found "a profound gap" between Webull's marketing as "an American company" and who actually controls it. Its report says Webull's "ownership architecture, technical workforce, technology infrastructure, cross-border data routing, corporate financing, and compliance frameworks are tied in structural ways to the People's Republic of China."

The stock move

Shares of Webull (Nasdaq: BULL) were down about 20% at $5.86 as of 1:09 p.m. ET, according to Dow Jones Newswires. They hit a near-four-month low. At 11:56 a.m., the stock was at $5.81, down $1.47. Benzinga Pro showed a deeper drop, 26% to $5.28, at one point in the session. The stock is down 25% for the year, including today's fall.

Siebert Financial analyst Brian Vieten suspended his buy rating and price target. "The potential regulatory and operational implications of these findings create a level of uncertainty that we cannot reasonably incorporate into our estimates," he said.

What the committee alleges

The panel says its concerns grew after October 2025, when Webull began carrying customer cash directly, according to a regulatory filing the committee cited. It calls that a "structural exposure of billions of dollars in American capital."

The committee also says Webull's software development, data pipelines and core engineering depend on infrastructure subject to Beijing's laws, which can compel companies to cooperate with the government, including through data transfers.

It further alleges that Webull first told the panel it had no offices or employees in the PRC. The report says its mainland subsidiary, Hunan Weibu, now has 863 employees, or 62% of the global workforce. It traces the business to a Chinese company, Hunan Fumi Information Technology.

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, put it bluntly: "Using technology providers in mainland China and an opaque China-linked ownership structure, Webull exposes its data to our foremost adversary. Investors should heed this information when choosing who they do business with."

Webull's response

Webull rejects the report. A company spokesperson said it contains "significant inaccuracies and unsupported conclusions" and was published "without ever seeking clarification from Webull."

The spokesperson said the company "has made every effort to cooperate with the Committee, but did not hear from them for more than 20 months before this report was released." The company says its U.S. business runs from headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an office in New York City. It says U.S. customer data is stored in the U.S. and that access to sensitive data is controlled by U.S. personnel.

The company says it remains "prepared to address any questions directly and with the same transparency we bring to the SEC, FINRA, and regulators worldwide."

What Webull's own filings show

Several of the committee's building blocks match what Webull has told the SEC. The company disclosed that Hunan Weibu provides technology support and development, employed 863 people (62% of its workforce) as of December 31, 2025, and runs its main research and development center in Changsha, China.

Founder and CEO Anquan Wang, a Chinese citizen, held 16.4% of the outstanding ordinary shares but controlled 79.2% of the voting power as of March 31, according to the 2025 annual report. Webull Corporation is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. It went public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in April 2025.

The filings also back part of the company's defense. Webull told investors that personally identifiable information for customers of its U.S. broker-dealer sits on U.S. servers. It says that data cannot be sent abroad or accessed by non-U.S. employees without permission and oversight from U.S. personnel.

What the filings do not settle is the dispute over the committee's central claim: whether those safeguards hold up when engineering and infrastructure sit in China. Nothing publicly shows that customer data or funds have actually been accessed by the Chinese government. The committee's report is a finding of risk and an allegation of misrepresentation, which Webull denies.

The size of the exposure

The stakes are significant. Webull reported $24.6 billion in customer assets at the end of 2025, up 81% from a year earlier, and five million funded accounts. The company says it has 28 million users worldwide and operates in 18 markets.

CNBC obtained the report ahead of its Wednesday release. The House committee and the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The report is a congressional finding, not a regulatory action. No ban or enforcement action against Webull has been announced. Webull says it is ready to answer questions from the SEC and FINRA. Whether either agency opens an inquiry, or whether the committee's allegation about what Webull first told it can be squared with the company's account of 20 months of silence, is still unresolved.