Two major donors to a political action committee supporting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani previously worked for a technology company accused of being a potential national security threat because of its alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
Campaign finance records show that Omer Hasan, who stepped down in February as vice president of operations for the Palo Alto, California-based company AppLovin, contributed $250,000 on September 5 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a super PAC backing Mamdani.
Mohammad Javed, a former director of engineering at AppLovin who left the company in 2021, donated $251,500 to the PAC and also contributed $2,100 directly to Mamdani’s campaign committee.
Neither Hasan nor Javed have been accused of wrongdoing, and the circumstances surrounding their departures from AppLovin remain unclear.
Filings with the New York City Campaign Finance Board list Hasan as unemployed at the time of his donation, while Javed reported he was serving as CEO of a company called Showcase Commerce.
AppLovin, a fast-growing Silicon Valley firm, has faced scrutiny over its business practices and alleged connections to Chinese investors. In February, Culper Research, a short-selling firm, released a report accusing AppLovin of installing malicious software through deceptive app downloads.
In June, Culper issued another report alleging the company posed both an investment risk and a national security concern because Chinese national Hao Tang controls at least 9.8 percent of the firm.
“Our research reveals Hao Tang has numerous ties to the CCP, money laundering and human trafficking operations,” the report stated.
Other short sellers have also raised alarms. Muddy Waters previously described AppLovin as a “scammy adtech company,” and Fuzzy Panda Research accused the company earlier this year of stealing data from Meta Platforms.
AppLovin Chief Executive Officer Adam Foroughi denied that the company has operational ties to China. In an April interview with Fox News, he said:
“We are a public company. We got investors all over the world.” Foroughi added, “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.”
Neither Hasan, Javed, nor AppLovin responded to requests for comment regarding the donations.
Records show other notable contributions to the Mamdani-aligned PAC. Liz Simons, the daughter of late hedge-fund billionaire Jim Simons, donated $250,000 despite Mamdani previously stating on the campaign trail that billionaires should not exist.
The Unity & Justice Fund, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, contributed $100,000. Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s campaign committee gave $25,000, while actresses Cynthia Nixon and Jane Fonda contributed $5,000 and $1,000, respectively.
When asked for comment, Mamdani’s campaign referred inquiries to the PAC. Howie Stanger, the PAC’s treasurer and founder of Los Angeles-based Pocketbook Strategies, did not respond to requests for comment.