Ways and Means Committee Expands Probe into Singham-Funded Nonprofits Behind May Day Protests

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith is expanding an investigation into an alleged foreign-aligned influence network that fueled anti-American, pro-communist protests on May Day.

Just after 1 p.m. on Friday, a black minivan pulled up to the curb on Union Square East in Lower Manhattan. David Chung, organizing director of the national nonprofit People's Forum, unpacked megaphones and bright yellow pre-made protest signs. One read, "TRUMP IS THE SYMPTOM. CAPITALISM IS THE DISEASE. SOCIALISM IS THE CURE!" Below it appeared the name "PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION," a Marxist communist group that collaborated with People's Forum. The network includes 600 groups with $2 billion in collective funding that backed May Day protests. Similar scenes played out nationwide, including Party for Socialism and Liberation activists in Washington, D.C., who arrived first with identical yellow signs from a black Subaru Outback on 21st Street NW.

Fox News Digital has learned Smith is escalating scrutiny of Neville Roy Singham, an American-born Marxist tech tycoon in Shanghai. Singham funds People's Forum, BreakThrough BT Media Inc. and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, U.S.-based nonprofits that publish pro-China propaganda. They call the U.S. the "belly of the beast" and an "imperialist" power.

On Monday, Smith sent letters to the three groups, obtained by Fox News Digital. He cited "significant concerns" about "foreign influence or control" and the "financing arrangements and the structure of a foreign-aligned influence network, not protected speech or association."

A Fox News Digital investigation detailed the "House of Singham." Since 2017, Singham has given $278 million to a network of nonprofits, including these three, to spread anti-American, pro-communist ideology in the U.S. and abroad. Smith called them part of an "interconnected network of organizations." He told each that the committee is weighing legislative or regulatory changes to prevent tax-exempt status from hiding foreign influence.

Lawmakers and Trump administration officials in Treasury, Justice and State departments expressed worry to Fox News Digital. They said overseas interests exploit U.S. nonprofit laws via tax-exempt groups, donor-advised funds, shell companies, fiscal sponsorships and media platforms to exert foreign malign influence.

In the letter to People's Forum, Smith alleged Singham and his wife, CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, routed money through shell companies and donor-advised funds to hide sources.

The Missouri Republican ordered each group to provide internal documents by May 18. These include communications with Singham, records of foreign-linked donations over $5,000, fiscal sponsorship contracts, contacts with foreign principals and lists of overseas grant recipients.

Lawmakers on Senate Judiciary, House Ways and Means and House Oversight committees are using tax-exempt oversight to check if nonprofit laws counter influence networks that fund activism, spread propaganda and sway elections. At an earlier hearing on foreign influence, Smith accused the groups of "sowing discord."

The groups' lawyers claim the probe is political, oversteps jurisdiction, misuses the Foreign Agents Registration Act and endangers First Amendment rights. Smith dismissed those points, saying "none of those challenges withstands scrutiny."

Washington attorney Andrew Herman represents BreakThrough and Tricontinental. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a far-left 501(c)(3) in Washington, D.C., represents People's Forum. Neither responded to comment requests.

Digital records show Partnership for Civil Justice Fund shares an address on Florida Avenue NW with ANSWER Coalition, a communist group. ANSWER also uses People's Forum headquarters on West 37th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

In late January outside People's Forum, executive director Manolo De Los Santos, ANSWER and Party for Socialism and Liberation co-founder Brian Becker, and BreakThrough editor-in-chief Ben Becker declined questions on Singham's funding. De Los Santos also works as a Tricontinental researcher.

Singham sold his company Thoughtworks to Apax Partners in 2017 for an estimated $785 million. He used proceeds to build nonprofits promoting anti-American Marxist views. An Apax Partners spokeswoman said the firm would not name buyers.

Smith described Singham as a former U.S. tech executive now in Shanghai with documented Chinese Communist Party ties. He called the three groups nodes in a foreign-aligned network and asked if they act as agents of foreign principals. In a video from a Tricontinental co-sponsored conference at Shanghai's Golden Tulip Hotel, Singham backed the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping and Xi's "new world order."

Fox News Digital found Singham sent $22.44 million to People's Forum from 2017 to 2022 via GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc., a Goldman Sachs-affiliated fund. A Goldman Sachs spokesman said it cut ties with Singham in early 2024. Singham gave Tricontinental $16.76 million through that fund, BreakThrough $1.098 million from it, $2.1 million from Justice and Education Fund and $60,600 from Progress Unity Fund.

Chung chaired Justice and Education Fund per its 2024 tax filing. Board members included De Los Santos and Party for Socialism and Liberation leader Karina Garcia.

Smith highlighted People's Forum fiscal sponsorship role, providing fiduciary oversight, financial management and administrative services to affiliates. He said it lets foreign-influenced funds reach other groups.

The demands aim to trace money, map global ties and assess if malign interests exploit tax exemptions to mask foreign sway across networks.

On the streets, Chung directed People's Forum protesters through New York City, crossing Union Square West and chanting, "One struggle, one fight!" BreakThrough later posted video, cropping Chung out.