U.S. lawmakers have launched investigations into several Wall Street underwriting firms, including Dominari Securities, whose parent company has ties to the Trump family, for their role in funneling Chinese companies into U.S. stock markets that were later linked to a stock-price manipulation scheme.
On Monday, the House Select Committee on China, chaired by Rep. John Moolener and Ranking Member Rep. Ro Khanna, sent letters to three U.S. companies, D. Boral Capital, Dominari Securities, and Revere Securities, requesting information about Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) they helped underwrite.
“These fraud centers are defrauding American families through a coordinated ‘lamp-and-dump’ stock manipulation scheme involving Chinese shell companies listed on American exchanges, and your company appears to be facilitating it,” the lawmakers wrote.
Chinese companies are said to have used U.S. IPOs to inflate stock prices through coordinated deals and promotions, then dumped shares to individual investors before the prices collapsed. In some cases, dozens of accounts placed nearly identical buy orders above the IPO price, temporarily boosting valuations before insiders sold their shares.
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China’s stock system drains billions of dollars from investors
Lawmakers cited estimates that about $16 billion in U.S. investors’ assets have been drained through these programs since 2023. They also pointed to FBI data showing a 300% increase in complaints related to Chinese stock manipulation cases.
The investigation is asking underwriters for documents related to Chinese IPOs, including correspondence, transaction records, funding sources and due diligence policies.
The committee said it is investigating whether U.S. financial intermediaries may have unintentionally helped facilitate a manipulative scheme tied to Chinese issuers. Both companies have been asked to submit the requested documents by Friday.
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Dominari comes under scrutiny in Chinese stock investigation
One of the securities firms named in the investigation is Dominari, which has ties to the Trump family. The company, located in New York’s Trump Tower, is owned by Dominari Holdings, whose fourth-largest shareholder is Eric Trump, the son of US President Donald Trump. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. joined the company’s advisory board in February 2025.
Last year, Dominari helped facilitate the fundraising of Samzap, a publicly traded company that adopted a Bitcoin (BTC) financial strategy and also attracted a multi-million dollar investment from Donald Trump Jr.
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