By: Jerome Brookshire

The New York City mayoral race took a dramatic turn this week after campaign finance records revealed that two of the largest donors backing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s campaign previously worked at a Silicon Valley tech company accused of ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As The New York Post reported on Saturday, the revelations cast fresh scrutiny over the fundraising networks fueling Mamdani’s rise in a contentious race that has already stirred deep divides among New Yorkers.

According to public filings, Omer Hasan — who until February served as vice president of operations for App Lovin, a mobile technology firm based in Palo Alto, California — gave $250,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the super PAC supporting Mamdani’s candidacy. Just days later, Mohammad Javed, App Lovin’s former director of engineering who left the firm in 2021, made an even larger contribution of $251,500. Javed also directly donated $2,100 to Mamdani’s campaign committee.

As The New York Post reported, neither Hasan nor Javed has been accused of wrongdoing. Yet their employment history at App Lovin — a company dogged by allegations of impropriety and national security concerns — has thrust their donations into the spotlight, especially given Mamdani’s position as the frontrunner in the mayoral race.

App Lovin, though headquartered in California, has faced sharp criticism from analysts and short-selling research firms. Earlier this year, Culper Research accused the company of “illicit backdoor app installations” that allegedly tricked users into downloading malicious software. The firm issued another blistering report in June, branding App Lovin both “a bad investment and a national security risk,” citing Chinese investor Hao Tang’s nearly 10% stake in the company.

“Our research reveals Hao Tang has numerous ties to the CCP, money laundering and human trafficking operations,” Culper alleged, according to reporting cited by The New York Post.

Other watchdog groups have echoed these concerns. Muddy Waters described App Lovin as a “scammy adtech company,” while Fuzzy Panda Research claimed the firm misappropriated data from Meta Platforms. Together, these allegations paint a troubling portrait of a company caught between allegations of fraud, questionable data practices, and potential exposure to foreign influence.

App Lovin CEO Adam Foroughi has consistently rejected any suggestion that his company is tied to the CCP. In an April interview with Fox News — also highlighted in The New York Post report — the Iranian-born American billionaire insisted: “We are a public company. We got investors all over the world. I don’t know any [investors] that make up a material part of our cap table. Everyone’s small. I am the largest shareholder in the business — U. S. citizen.”

Despite Foroughi’s assurances, critics remain uneasy, noting that even minority stakes by foreign nationals tied to Beijing can raise serious concerns under U. S. national security law.

Campaign finance records indicate that Hasan and Javed both listed different occupations at the time of their donations. Hasan reported being unemployed, while Javed listed himself as CEO of a firm called “Showcase Commerce.” Both made their six-figure contributions on September 5, just as Mamdani’s campaign was gaining traction following a bruising primary season.

The contributions from Hasan and Javed are part of a broader constellation of left-leaning groups and figures who have thrown their weight behind Mamdani’s campaign through New Yorkers for Lower Costs.