Singham-Funded Groups Stage Protests as Trump-Xi Talks Approach

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Organizations connected through funding and activist infrastructure to Shanghai-based technology entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham are holding demonstrations this week on immigration, the military, artificial intelligence and Israel as Republican lawmakers intensify scrutiny of the network’s finances and possible foreign influence.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

A network of activist organizations with financial ties to technology entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham is staging or promoting demonstrations in Austin and New York this week, placing renewed attention on the groups’ funding and political activity as President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The demonstrations span several causes rather than a single coordinated message, including opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. military policy, artificial-intelligence data centers and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Republican lawmakers examining Singham-linked nonprofits argue that the organizations’ shared financial and organizational connections warrant greater scrutiny and have raised concerns that extensive protest activity could be exploited by foreign governments to portray instability inside the United States. Those assertions remain part of congressional investigations and have not established that China directed the demonstrations.

A Fox News investigation traced this week’s activity through organizations that have received money from Singham or work alongside groups he has funded. Singham, an American technology entrepreneur who lives in Shanghai, has been the subject of congressional scrutiny over his financial relationships with U.S. tax-exempt organizations.

Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, who co-founded CodePink, participated Monday in a demonstration near the United Nations in New York. Wearing a fuchsia straw hat, Evans joined other CodePink activists across from the U.N. on East 47th Street near the Katharine Hepburn Garden.

The demonstrators criticized what they described as the U.S. military’s “all-out climate and environmental devastation.” Participants later moved to OpenAI’s offices on Lafayette Street for a demonstration targeting artificial-intelligence infrastructure, arguing that data centers “drive war” and contribute to “economic degradation.”

Evans has separately posted a video praising China for developing an economy that allows citizens to “grow and thrive.” Fox News reported that Singham delivered a speech in China last year expressing support for the Chinese Communist Party and Xi’s “new world order.”

Those positions have become part of a larger congressional debate over whether domestic nonprofit organizations receiving Singham-linked funding function as what some lawmakers have called “Trojan horses” for foreign influence. The House Ways and Means Committee has been examining BreakThrough News, Tricontinental and The People’s Forum and in July issued subpoenas after saying the organizations had not fully complied with previous requests for financial records and communications.

“The American people need to know that this is not just an organic movement,” Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said. “There has to be more transparency across all areas with these kinds of activities.”

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, similarly questioned whether groups portraying themselves as grassroots organizations accurately reflect the financial structure behind them.

“In these situations where you have groups that portray themselves as grassroots, it’s really more Astroturf, very fake,” Moolenaar said.

He said the activity “raises serious concerns” about potential foreign influence, particularly “when you see them actively speaking out against American interests.”

Moolenaar has called for “clarification and transparency” surrounding the organizations’ financial relationships and questioned whether their tax-exempt status remains appropriate if their activities cross restrictions governing nonprofit political involvement, including “campaign rules and political rules here in the United States.”

Those are allegations and concerns raised by Republican lawmakers rather than findings that the organizations are acting under Chinese government direction. The Ways and Means Committee has said its investigation is intended to determine whether foreign-linked funding structures are being used to influence political activity or circumvent requirements governing tax-exempt organizations.

The scale of Singham’s reported financial network has driven much of that scrutiny.

Fox News reported that approximately $285 million moved through a donor-advised fund and corporate entities into a broader network of nonprofits, media organizations and activist groups. Among the organizations identified in that reporting, CodePink received approximately $1.33 million, The People’s Forum received $22.44 million and BreakThrough BT Media received about $1.098 million. Separate congressional records confirm that The People’s Forum has acknowledged receiving Singham funding and that lawmakers have sought detailed records about those financial relationships.

Singham and his financial network are also under federal investigation.

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York is investigating financial activity involving Singham and organizations associated with him, according to multiple reports citing sources familiar with the inquiry. Prosecutors have examined possible violations involving wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and tax or foreign-agent laws. Singham has not been charged with a crime, and the existence of a grand jury investigation does not establish wrongdoing by him or any organization receiving his money.

The investigation also does not establish that Singham personally planned or directed the demonstrations occurring this week.

Singham, CodePink, The People’s Forum and BreakThrough News had not responded to repeated requests for comment cited in the Fox News report.

The week’s protest activity began Sunday evening in Austin following the shooting of Venezuelan national Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez by an ICE agent.

The Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Party for Socialism and Liberation promoted calls for demonstrators to gather at 8121 Research Blvd. after the shooting. Fox News reported that existing activist networks and social-media accounts helped mobilize the gathering quickly rather than the protest developing exclusively through unaffiliated local residents.

Some coverage initially characterized the Austin demonstration as “spontaneous.” Organizations involved in promoting the protest rejected suggestions that the existence of coordination undermined the legitimacy of the demonstrators’ concerns.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation published a video “rejecting” descriptions of the demonstration as a “nefarious” coordinated operation and said the turnout reflected “righteous anger.”

Activists subsequently indicated that organizing would extend beyond Austin, including activity in Pearsall, Texas, where participants pledged to put “boots on the ground.”

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, Democratic Socialists of America and Freedom Road Socialist Organization did not respond to requests for comment cited in the report.

On Monday, the focus shifted to New York, where CodePink began a series of events tied to Climate Week and the U.N. General Assembly.

CodePink co-founder Susan Medea Benjamin has participated in previous demonstrations involving U.S.-China policy, while Evans has remained one of the organization’s most visible figures.

The group’s schedule included demonstrations criticizing environmental effects attributed to the U.S. military before participants joined the OpenAI protest connecting AI data centers with the military-industrial system.

Organizers advertised a week involving “disruptions” and “bird-dogging,” a political tactic in which activists confront public officials or other individuals at public appearances, conferences, restaurants or similar settings with questions or criticism.

Early Tuesday, CodePink marked Evans’ birthday by describing her as its “fearless cofounder” and publishing photographs from her years of activism.

Among the images was Evans appearing alongside balloons associated with CodePink’s “China Is Not Our Enemy” campaign, which the organization launched after receiving Singham-linked funding. Another showed Evans alongside Marxist political commentator Hasan Piker during a caravan supporting Cuba.

Later Tuesday, activists gathered at The People’s Forum in Manhattan for a screening of “Earth’s Greatest Enemy,” a film critical of the environmental effects of the U.S. military.

Promotional material described the military as “one of the most significant drivers of environmental destruction” and the “world’s largest institutional polluter.”

At approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday, BreakThrough News posted edited footage from the Austin demonstrations under the headline: “SECOND DAY OF PROTESTS IN AUSTIN AFTER ICE SHOOTS VENEZUELAN DELIVERY DRIVER.”

BreakThrough News is operated by BreakThrough BT Media, one of the nonprofit organizations that has received Singham-linked funding and has been included in congressional scrutiny of the broader network. The House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed BreakThrough News in July as part of its investigation into foreign-linked financing and tax-exempt organizations.

CodePink’s schedule called for further demonstrations Wednesday focused on the U.S. military’s “role in climate issues.”

Additional activity is planned Thursday, the same day Trump is scheduled to meet Xi.

The People’s Forum, CodePink, the Palestinian Youth Movement and other organizations plan to demonstrate against Netanyahu, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Organizers have advertised a march from Bryant Park to the United Nations and called on participants to “reject war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and the genocidal Zionist project.”

Those descriptions reflect the organizers’ political characterization of Netanyahu and Israel.

CodePink also plans to participate in a Thursday event titled “War & Climate: What U.S. Imperialism Demands of Our Climate Justice Movements” before joining the demonstration involving Netanyahu. Promotional material for those events has used the terms “genocide” and “ecocide” in describing Israel’s military campaign and its environmental consequences.

The week’s planned demonstrations then return to Austin on Friday.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation has advertised a 6 p.m. demonstration at Austin City Hall with a call for wider participation.

“Now is the time for us all to be brave, to follow the example of Minneapolis earlier this year, and TAKE TO THE STREETS!” the organization said.

The succession of events has attracted attention in Washington because the organizations operate across different causes while sharing personnel, venues, media support or financial connections within a broader activist network.

Congressional Republicans argue that those relationships warrant investigation into whether tax-exempt organizations with foreign-linked funding are complying with federal law. House investigators have sought records involving fiscal sponsorship arrangements, foreign funding, communications with Singham and relationships with foreign nationals or entities.

The investigations have not established that the Chinese government ordered the protests, that Singham personally directed each demonstration or that receiving money associated with Singham by itself constitutes unlawful foreign influence.

The issue nevertheless places the network under intensified scrutiny during a politically sensitive week, with immigration protests underway in Texas, demonstrations surrounding the U.N. General Assembly in New York and Trump preparing for negotiations with Xi as lawmakers continue examining how foreign-linked money flows through U.S. nonprofit organizations.