US lawmakers are investigating brokerage firms linked to the Trump family, alleging they may have been involved in stock price manipulation during the underwriting of Chinese companies' IPOs.

The U.S. House of Representatives has launched investigations into several Wall Street underwriters, including Dominari Securities, which has ties to the Trump family, because these firms assisted several Chinese companies in listing in the U.S., and the stocks were subsequently accused of market manipulation. Committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Democrat Ro Khanna sent letters to three firms on Monday, requesting information on their underwriting of Chinese IPOs: D. Boral Capital, Dominari Securities, and Revere Securities. The letters allege that these firms were used for "ramp-and-dump" stock price manipulation after listing: the Chinese shell companies coordinated transactions and marketing to drive up the stock price, then sold shares to retail investors at the peak, causing a sharp drop in the price. Some cases show that numerous accounts placed almost identical buy orders above the IPO price, briefly inflating the valuation before insiders quickly cashed out and left. (Cointelegraph)