A spokesperson for Shein said by email that the company “denies these rumors.” The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for further details. The SEC declined to comment.

In pressing on with its IPO plans, Shein is braving heightened tensions between the United States and China over trade, sensitive technology, human rights and the future of Taiwan.

Its IPO is opposed by a bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. representatives, who have asked the SEC to verify the company does not use force labor before allowing it to proceed with a New York listing.

Shein has said it adheres to ethical sourcing standards and has denied allegations that it ships from China’s Xinjiang region, where materials such as cotton are often the product of forced labor by the Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority. The United States bans exports from Xinjiang for this reason.

U.S. lawmakers are also seeking to restrict the “de minimis” tariff exemption widely used by e-commerce retailers such as Shein to send orders from China to the United States. A federal brief in April accused Shein of exploiting the exemption to avoid duties and import illegally made items.

Shein was valued in excess of $60 billion in a $2 billion private fundraising round in March. General AtlanticSequoia

Shein has been eyeing a U.S. IPO for at least three years, but was deterred by headwinds that included U.S. scrutiny of Chinese accounting practices and bouts of market volatility fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

​The company’s founder Chris Xu moved the company’s headquarters to Singapore from Nanjing, capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province, more than a year ago, a move that helps Shein circumvent China’s tough new rules on overseas listings.