US Congress members on Monday called on the US Treasury Department to review and possibly freeze assets of a Chinese Communist Party-affiliated mogul and entities tied to him – many of which have been at the forefront of the post-October 7 massacre anti-Israel protests.
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer and Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets Chairwoman Anna Paulina Luna sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, urging him to conduct a formal evaluation of the applicability of federal sanctions against Shanghai-based mogul and US citizen Neville Singham.
Comer and Luna suggested that Singham may have acted as an agent for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as part of a strategy of sowing discord in the US, which would have required him to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Singham was involved in the funding of radical far Left, pro-CCP organizations and anti-Israel groups through a network of organizations, according to the letter.
His network allegedly extends to include the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the People’s Forum, ANSWER Coalition, International People’s Assembly, Al Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition NY, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), Palestinian Youth Movement, and Palestinian American Community Center NJ.
According to a May 2024 Network Contagion Research Institute report, Singham’s wife, Jodi Evans, is a board member of People’s Forum and a co-founder of CODEPINK.
The People’s Forum admitted in 2021 that “Marxist comrade” Singham had funded the organization. People’s Forum Founder Manolo De Los Santos is a researcher at Tricontinental, where Singham is chairman of the international advisory board and his son also works as a researcher.
The Forum, according to NCRI, received grants from the Justice and Education Fund (JEF), whose board members include Los Santos and Forum general manager David Chung. JEF also gave money to the United Community Fund, which in turn gave funds to the People’s Forum – and to Tricontinental. UCF’s 2022 director Tings Chak and alleged UCF treasurer Renata Porto Bugni also work at Tricontinental.
According to NCRI, Pro-CCP BreakThrough News also received funds from JEF, and also operated out of the same address as People’s Forum. BT News Editor-in-Chief Ben Becker was previously an ANSWER organizer, and host and producer Eugene Puryear is alleged by the Daily Beast to be a PSL founder. ANSWER director Brian Becker is a contributor to the outlet.
ANSWER Director Brian Becker is a leader in PSL, as is Answer co-founder Claudia De la Cruz. Comer and Luna wrote that Singham is seen as a principal backer of PSL.
PSL and CODEPINK are also on the coordinating committee for the International People’s Assembly. IPA includes Tricontinental as a partner, and Tricontinental researcher Mikaela Nhondo Erskog is also a regional coordinator for IPA.
IPA, People’s Form, and ANSWER are conveners for the Shut it Down for Palestine coalition, which organizes disruptive protests across the US. Other conveners are NSJP, Al-Awda, and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Endorsers include CODEPINK and Samidoun. Comer and Luna noted that Samidoun appeared to be a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but did not seem to be aware that the organization had already been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on October 15.
Comer and Luna requested that the above entities be reviewed by the US Treasury, along with Singham. The committee had written to Singham in June, requesting documents related to the entities, but Singham had reportedly ignored the committee’s request.
Extensive investigations into potential CCP-linked groups
The letter comes several days after the Congressional Ways and Means Committee announced that it was investigating the People’s Forum for allegedly acting as a CCP agent while benefiting from tax-exempt status.
Committee chairman Rep. Jason Smith contacted Los Santos, demanding documents and communications regarding ties to the CCP and Singham. The Forum had until Thursday to provide a list of its fiscal sponsors.
Last September, Smith called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke the People’s Forum’s tax-exempt status for its role in allegedly planning civil unrest.
The threats against the People’s Forum’s assets also came as the organization announced that it was running out of funds. On September 9, the Forum appealed to supporters, needing to raise $5 million to complete renovations on a building it had purchased, with a goal of $2 million by December 2026.
“Closing TPF would not just be heartbreaking – it would mean the far Right and war criminals in Washington get what they’ve tried to do for years,” the group said on Instagram. “They’ve launched nonstop attacks to shut us down. We won’t let them win.”