Once named AppLovin as the Prince Group's money laundering front, the short-selling firm has apologized.

In response to the market attention triggered by the previous short-selling report, research firm Capitalwatch issued a correction and apology statement on February 8, announcing the withdrawal of certain specific allegations against Hao Tang, the major shareholder of AppLovin, and stating that the related content did not meet publication standards during the independent verification process.

(Capitalwatch short-selling report accuses AppLovin of “advertising money laundering,” making it a black gold export for the Prince Group)

The report published on January 20 claimed that the shareholder structure, advertising revenue flow, and product usage of U.S.-listed advertising data analysis company AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) are highly related to the Cambodian Prince Group, a transnational criminal organization, and may be a money laundering outlet for the group, calling on U.S. regulators to initiate an investigation.

Withdrawal of personal association claims with Hao Tang due to insufficient verification leading to incorrect links

Regarding the part of the previous report that suggested Hao Tang was connected to a court ruling in Bordeaux, France, Capitalwatch stated that after internal review, the judicial document lacked sufficient independent verification during citation and was incorrectly linked to Hao Tang himself. Additionally, concerning the previous claims that Hao Tang had direct relationships with the following individuals and organizations, Capitalwatch said that these descriptions had not been cross-verified with multiple non-anonymous sources and did not meet their publication standards, so they decided to withdraw them all, including:

Chen Zhi

Prince Group

Jinbei Group

Tang Jun

Yang Zhihui

In its statement, Capitalwatch said it has removed all paragraphs involving Hao Tang personally and sincerely apologized for any potential reputational impact.

Stating that it does not constitute an endorsement but remains concerned about AppLovin’s financial data issues

Regarding the previous report’s implications of personal responsibility related to “money laundering” and “improper benefit transfer,” Capitalwatch stated that under U.S. financial crime laws, accusations against individuals require extremely high evidence thresholds, including:

Clear subjective intent proof

Complete and traceable fund flows

Closed and continuous evidence chains

Internal review concluded that while current public information shows some capital structures and transaction patterns worth market attention, they are legally insufficient to directly and exclusively attribute related capital operations to Hao Tang personally. The organization emphasized that this withdrawal is based on the principle of evidence, not denying the existence of structural phenomena in the market.

However, Capitalwatch also pointed out that this correction does not constitute an endorsement of AppLovin’s financial condition. The organization stated that it will continue to conduct independent analysis based on public market data, and in its subsequent report “Nine Questions for AppLovin,” it will continue to question certain “financial data lacking reasonable explanation” through financial reports and quantitative models.

This article originally pointed out that AppLovin was a money laundering window for Prince Group’s Chen Zhi; the short-selling firm has apologized. The earliest publication appeared on Chain News ABMedia.