{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-calls-for-investigation-of-chinese-stock-trading-app", "Cotton Calls for Investigation of Chinese Stock Trading App", "2021-09-23", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: James Arnold or Mary Collins Atkinson (202) 224-2353\n\nSeptember 23, 2021\n\nCotton Calls for Investigation of Chinese Stock Trading App\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today wrote to Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, to raise concerns about the national security risks posed by Webull, a Chinese stock trading app, and to call for an investigation into the company.\n\nIn part, Cotton wrote, \u201cAs a broker-dealer, Webull collects sensitive, personal information from its clients. That includes Social Security numbers, home addresses, bank accounts, and more. While Webull claims to store user data locally, Webull is still required to adhere to the laws of China.\u201d\n\n\u201cGiven these concerns, we believe that Webull is a potential counterintelligence threat and we ask that the Intelligence Community conduct an assessment of the potential national security risks posed by Webull and other China-based broker-dealers operating in the United States. Further, we request that the Intelligence Community brief Congress on these findings,\u201d Cotton continued.\n\nText of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nThe Honorable Avril Haines\n\nDirector of National Intelligence\n\nOffice of the Director of National Intelligence\n\nWashington, DC 20511\n\nDear Director Haines,\n\nWe write to express our concerns about potential national security risks posed by the growing use of Webull, a registered broker-dealer and securities trading platform, in the United States.\n\nWebull is owned by Fumi Technology, a financial analysis firm that offers market trading tools for personal investors. Webull\u2019s customer-facing unit and brokerage wings are located in New York City, however, their technology team is located in Hunan, China.\n\nWebull does not earn commissions on trades but rather makes money via order flow payments, short selling fees, subscriptions, interest paid on margin, as well as investments of cash on balance. A 2018 profile of Webull described their Wall Street office as \u201ca Chinese force in the \u2018nerve center\u2019 of the international financial community.\u201d Webull had over eleven million users as of last year and is planning an initial public offering that could raise between $300-$400 million. From April to June of 2020, Webull\u2019s trading volume exploded by 500% and trading accounts grew by 450,000.\n\nAs a broker-dealer, Webull collects sensitive, personal information from its clients. That includes Social Security numbers, home addresses, bank accounts, and more. While Webull claims to store user data locally, Webull is still required to adhere to the laws of China.\n\nChina's deliberately vague patchwork of intelligence, national security, and cybersecurity laws compel companies to support and cooperate with the government\u2019s intelligence work. With no independent judiciary to review government demands to provide user data or take other actions on the government\u2019s behalf, there is no legal alternative for Chinese companies if they don\u2019t want to comply. There is no independent press to make the situation public. And penalties for non-compliance can include destruction of the firm and long prison sentences.\n\nGiven these concerns, we believe that Webull is a potential counterintelligence threat and we ask that the Intelligence Community conduct an assessment of the potential national security risks posed by Webull and other China-based broker-dealers operating in the United States. Further, we request that the Intelligence Community brief Congress on these findings.\n\nThank you for your consideration regarding this important matter. We look forward to hearing from you.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-calls-for-investigation-of-chinese-stock-trading-app"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3722439762204885, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}