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 AppLovin, 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, AppLovin’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 AppLovin — 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.

AppLovin, 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 AppLovin 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 AppLovin 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.

AppLovin 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.

As The New York Post report observed, the timing of their donations — alongside the heightened scrutiny of Chinese-linked investments in the tech sector — has raised questions about whether the PAC’s funding sources could become a flashpoint in the general election campaign.

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.

Liz Simons, daughter of the late hedge-fund magnate Jim Simons, contributed $250,000. As The New York Post reported last week, Simons has also been a major funder of initiatives to reshape American education — including efforts to promote so-called “woke math.” Her support for Mamdani comes despite the candidate’s oft-stated belief that billionaires should not exist.

Other donations to the PAC include $100,000 from the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ political arm, the Unity & Justice Fund; $25,000 from the campaign committee of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a member of the “Squad”; and smaller contributions from actress Cynthia Nixon ($5,000) and Jane Fonda ($1,000).

The eclectic mix of donors — ranging from progressive Hollywood activists to organizations with controversial reputations — shines a spotlight on the ideological coalition forming around Mamdani, but also the vulnerabilities it exposes to political attack.

Central to the controversy surrounding Mamdani’s candidacy is his record on Israel and antisemitism. A self-described socialist, Mamdani has openly supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. He has pledged to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should the Israeli leader visit New York, and he has repeatedly refused to denounce the slogan “globalize the intifada” — a phrase the Anti-Defamation League has condemned as a call to violence against Jews.

As The New York Post has documented, these positions have drawn fierce backlash from Jewish communities in the city, especially Sephardic congregations in Brooklyn and Orthodox neighborhoods in Queens. Polls show Mamdani underperforming among Jewish voters compared to his overall citywide support.

Against this backdrop, the revelation that two of Mamdani’s top PAC donors previously worked for a company accused of links to the CCP — a regime that itself has been accused of human rights abuses and antisemitism — threatens to deepen concerns about his judgment and the influences shaping his candidacy.

The super PAC New Yorkers for Lower Costs has so far avoided commenting on its donor base. Mamdani’s campaign has similarly referred all questions to the PAC. Howie Stanger, the PAC’s treasurer and founder of Los Angeles-based consulting firm Pocketbook Strategies, has not responded to media inquiries.

Still, as The New York Post report emphasized, the spotlight on the PAC’s funding is unlikely to dim anytime soon. With Mamdani leading in recent polls and his campaign powered by an unusual coalition of progressives, activists, and wealthy benefactors, the provenance of every dollar is under increasing scrutiny.

The donations are likely to become a key talking point for Mamdani’s rivals. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, has already positioned himself as a bulwark against the socialist wave within the Democratic Party. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, meanwhile, has hammered Mamdani on public safety and foreign policy, framing him as out of step with mainstream New Yorkers.

In this volatile context, revelations about Chinese-linked tech executives funneling money into Mamdani’s PAC could be weaponized by opponents eager to paint him as compromised by foreign or radical interests.

As The New York Post report noted, the issue cuts deeper than typical campaign mudslinging: it touches on national security concerns, foreign influence, and the integrity of America’s electoral system.

The disclosure that two of Mamdani’s largest PAC donors were previously employed at a company under fire for alleged ties to the CCP adds another layer of complexity to an already tumultuous race. While no allegations of wrongdoing have been made against the donors themselves, the optics are fraught in a political climate where concerns about China loom large.

As The New York Post reported, Mamdani’s candidacy represents a sharp break from traditional mayoral politics in New York. But with every new revelation about his donors, his rhetoric, or his alliances, voters are being asked to weigh whether his campaign is powered by grassroots energy — or by forces far more complicated, and potentially troubling, than most anticipated.