Three U.S. tax-exempt organizations linked to Shanghai-based businessman Neville Roy Singham have until Oct. 20 to comply with congressional subpoenas or face further action, including possible depositions of 21 officials and staff members, as lawmakers investigate alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence through American nonprofits.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) issued the warning on Oct. 13 to The People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, accusing them of refusing to provide documents concerning their finances and connections to Singham.
“Either these organizations turn over the documents, or their leaders will answer the Committee’s questions under oath,” Smith said.
The committee said potential deposition subpoenas would cover eight people at The People’s Forum, seven at BreakThrough News, and six at Tricontinental.
Singham Funding Network Under Scrutiny
Singham, an American technology entrepreneur living in Shanghai, has financed left-wing advocacy and media organizations through a network of nonprofit entities and charitable accounts.
He has participated in at least one CCP propaganda forum in Shanghai. At a February congressional hearing, Smith also identified Singham’s business connections to Chinese media ventures, including Shanghai Maku Cultural Communication, which has described its mission using a CCP slogan that promotes Beijing’s preferred narratives internationally.
The committee alleges that Singham’s financial network has helped advance CCP influence operations in the United States.
In July, the committee subpoenaed the three nonprofits after they declined earlier requests for financial documents.
Its July correspondence cited previous reporting that more than $22 million flowed from Singham’s donor-advised fund to The People’s Forum and more than $16 million to Tricontinental between 2017 and 2022. The committee also cited approximately $1.1 million going to BreakThrough News between 2022 and 2023.
Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) previously described a funding structure in which money moved from Singham-associated businesses through privately held companies and donor-advised funds before reaching nonprofit recipients.
“By the time the money reaches the end user, the original donor’s name has been stripped away three or four times,” LaHood told The Epoch Times in February.
The committee is seeking records of these financial arrangements, communications with Singham or foreign entities concerning finances and organizational control, and information about foreign-linked donations and projects sponsored through other tax-exempt organizations.
Congress Examines Foreign Funding, Tax Laws
Smith said the investigation is intended to determine whether existing tax laws adequately prevent foreign interests from using U.S. nonprofits to conceal funding sources or exercise influence over American activities.
In September, Smith and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) also asked the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to investigate the broader Singham-linked nonprofit network.
BreakThrough News, in an Oct. 9 statement, accused the committee of targeting its journalists for their political views and maintained that it receives no outside editorial direction. Its attorneys have raised First Amendment objections to the subpoena.
The committee has rejected those objections, maintaining that its investigation concerns financial arrangements and organizational control rather than political speech.
BreakThrough News said journalists Rania Khalek, Zoe Alexandra, and Amanda Yee were among the staff members named in the latest congressional correspondence as potential deposition targets.
If the three organizations fail to meet the Oct. 20 deadline, Smith has warned that the committee will pursue more aggressive oversight measures, potentially compelling officials and staff members to testify under oath.
The Epoch Times sought comment from the House Ways and Means Committee, The People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, and Tricontinental, but none had responded by publication time.
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