The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party is examining possible China-based access to Webull customer records after 2021 staff messages, CNBC reported.
Webull said in an Oct. 9 statement filed with the SEC that it stores U.S. customer data on Amazon Web Services infrastructure in the continental United States. It said employees in China cannot access sensitive U.S. customer information and that the committee’s report cited no instance of improper access or misuse of U.S. customer data.
CNBC reported that the messages involved Webull Financial LLC manager Brendan Fuller and Webull employee Zhenghan Wang. Fuller said a China team member and a U.S. colleague had approved an account during a discussion of customer identification checks, which brokers use to verify people opening accounts.
According to CNBC, the committee inferred that Wang was in China from the timing of his messages and a simplified Chinese translation setting. Wang’s location, what account information he could view and whether he accessed sensitive data are unverified. Webull told CNBC the exchange concerned a routine 2021 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) matter that had concluded. CNBC said Webull did not directly answer whether Wang could view U.S. customer records at the time.
Webull’s annual filing says employees outside the United States need permission and oversight from U.S. personnel to access U.S. customers’ personally identifiable information. Its privacy notice says affiliates outside the United States may access personal information. The disclosures do not establish whether they cover the same data, controls or period as the company’s Oct. 9 statement.
In an Oct. 20 release, the committee said storing data in the United States does not resolve its concerns about access to the information and the systems handling it. Webull’s annual filing lists 863 employees at its China subsidiary, Hunan Weibu Information Technology Co., Ltd., as of Dec. 31, 2025. That was 62% of its workforce. The company identifies Changsha, China, as its main research and development center.
The committee’s Oct. 7 report proposed restricting storage of U.S. customers’ personally identifiable information in foreign-adversary jurisdictions and access to it from those places. The report did not establish that Chinese authorities had accessed Webull customer data.
Separately, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP said in an investor alert that eligible investors have until Dec. 7, 2026, to seek lead-plaintiff appointment in a Florida securities case over Webull’s China operations and customer-data safeguards.
