The Justice Department is investigating how a U.S. tech tycoon living in Shanghai funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into a web of far-left nonprofits, and Sen. Ted Cruz wants to make sure the tax code stops rewarding it.
Cruz, the Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, is pressing his SPONSOR Act as federal prosecutors in Manhattan dig into the finances of Neville Roy Singham, a centimillionaire whose donor network has quietly bankrolled some of the most aggressive left-wing activist groups operating on American soil.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the probe, which is being conducted by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton. A grand jury in Manhattan has issued subpoenas, Breitbart reported, as investigators examine whether Singham or his associates committed wire fraud, bank fraud, or money laundering in connection with the funding pipeline.
Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana did not mince words when he sat down with Fox News Digital on Tuesday. He called Singham "a traitor to our country" and laid out what he sees as the core problem.
"He has ties to the CCP. He is an American citizen, but all of his loyalties lie with the Chinese Communist Party. And when you begin to untangle the web of his massive fortune and his philanthropic activities, the money that he sends to left-wing groups in America, and not just groups that espouse ideologies, but espouse violence."
Singham has not responded to repeated requests for comment from Fox News Digital sent over the past several months.
A Fox News Digital investigation found that Singham has funneled $278 million into a broad network of nonprofits since 2017, the same year he sold his Chicago-based tech company, Thoughtworks. The Washington Examiner reported that after the sale, Singham relocated to Shanghai and began pouring millions into activist organizations, some of which have defended authoritarian regimes including China.
The money moved through a particular channel: the Goldman Sachs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc., a donor-advised fund that served as a conduit for Singham's contributions. One recipient, The People's Forum Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit described as a hub for far-left activity in Manhattan, received $22.44 million through that pipeline. A Singham-funded nonprofit purchased a Manhattan building for $5.15 million.
The New York Post reported that $285 million allegedly flowed from Singham through Goldman Sachs philanthropic funds and shell companies to nonprofits, media organizations, and activist groups. Singham has been linked to a 172-page report invoking Mao Zedong's battle plan for spreading communism and calling for a "new world order."
Cruz, who has been willing to stake out bold positions even when they put him at odds with allies, framed the DOJ probe as long overdue. He told Fox News Digital:
"I've long said that Democrat billionaires are funding left-wing political violence to push anti-American and foreign-aligned interests through tax-exempt entities. The DOJ is absolutely right to investigate Neville Roy Singham's funding network, which has been critical in bankrolling those efforts."
Cruz introduced the SPONSOR Act, the Stop Proxy Organizations Nurturing Subversive Operations and Riots Act, in March. The bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code to expand the liability of 501(c)(3) nonprofits for the groups they fund or sponsor. Under the legislation, such nonprofits would face criminal and civil liability for violations of the law by their sponsored entities. It would also strip tax-exempt status from individuals and organizations funneling funds to nonprofits engaged in political violence.
The mechanism Cruz is targeting is the fiscal sponsorship, a legal arrangement that allows smaller groups to operate under the tax-exempt umbrella of a larger nonprofit. In Singham's network, that structure has allowed organizations to avoid the kind of scrutiny that comes with independent filings and direct accountability.
Consider the Venceremos Brigade. Fox News Digital identified it as a fiscally-sponsored project of The People's Forum, listed on that organization's donation page. The Brigade has worked with Cuban government officials for decades, bringing American activists to Cuba for political and labor solidarity work. Under the current system, the fiscal sponsor bears little responsibility for what its sponsored projects actually do.
Cruz's legislation aims to change that. When he introduced the bill, he said:
"Loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code allow radical groups to use tax-exempt funds to bankroll violent, anti-American activity opaquely and therefore with impunity. The violence that has spread in recent years in our cities and on our college campuses is not organic. It is enabled by funding from well-resourced organizations that exploit such loopholes, including and especially through fiscal sponsorships."
Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina co-sponsored the Senate version. Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas introduced the House companion. Moran stated that "Congress has a duty to safeguard the integrity of our nonprofit system and ensure our tax laws are not exploited by extremist or radical groups operating in the shadows."
The nonprofits in Singham's orbit are not obscure academic charities. CodePink, co-founded by Singham's wife Jodie Evans, is a 501(c)(3) that Banks said has targeted and confronted him directly on Capitol Hill. Fox News Digital identified direct funding from Singham to the organization. The Washington Examiner noted that Singham-connected groups share overlapping leadership with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The People's Forum, meanwhile, has hosted events for ICE Out of New York, a group known for rallying agitators to protest ICE operations. On Saturday, March 7, 2026, The People's Forum set up signs in Union Square to protest the war with Iran, signs marked with the website for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
That protest activity is a reminder of the broader landscape Cruz has been navigating. The Texas senator has been outspoken on Iran policy and has not hesitated to challenge the foreign policy establishment when he believes American interests are at stake.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, put it bluntly in a statement reported by the New York Post: "For years, Roy Singham has abused the generous tax status awarded to tax exempt organizations to fund left wing chaos and violence in our country. It's about time he is brought to justice and he is held accountable for his ties to the CCP."
What makes the Singham case so instructive is not just the scale, nearly $300 million routed through donor-advised funds and shell entities, but the structural failure it exposes. The current tax code gives 501(c)(3) organizations enormous privileges: tax-exempt status, the ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and a public presumption of charitable purpose. In return, the public gets remarkably little transparency about where the money actually goes once it enters the fiscal sponsorship pipeline.
Singham sold a company, moved to Shanghai, and built a funding apparatus that reaches into Manhattan storefronts, Capitol Hill confrontations, and street protests against federal law enforcement. The nonprofits he funds operate under the same tax protections as your local food bank or church.
Cruz's SPONSOR Act would not eliminate fiscal sponsorships. It would make the sponsor liable when the entity it shelters breaks the law. That is not a radical concept. It is basic accountability, the kind that already applies in virtually every other area of American law where one party assumes responsibility for another's conduct.
Cruz has shown a willingness to take on fights that other senators avoid. He has drawn fire from within his own coalition on foreign policy questions, and he has not backed down. On the nonprofit accountability front, the political dynamics are clearer: the left has built a funding infrastructure that exploits legal loopholes, and the DOJ is now asking hard questions about whether some of that activity crossed into criminal territory.
No charges have been filed against Singham. The investigation is ongoing. But the pattern Fox News Digital has documented, hundreds of millions flowing from a Shanghai-based American citizen through opaque financial vehicles into groups that organize protests against federal immigration enforcement and promote communist ideology, raises questions that go well beyond one man's tax returns.
Banks highlighted the personal dimension. CodePink, a Singham-funded group co-founded by his own wife, has confronted Banks on Capitol Hill. These are not abstract policy debates for the senators pushing back. The groups receiving Singham's money operate in their workplaces.
Cruz's subcommittee oversees grants to the DOJ and holds regular hearings with department officials, giving him a direct line of oversight as the investigation proceeds. Whether the SPONSOR Act advances will depend on whether enough of his colleagues recognize what the current system allows: tax-exempt dollars flowing from Shanghai to street protests in New York, with almost no one in the chain held responsible.
The broader pattern Cruz has identified, wealthy donors operating through layered financial structures to shape American politics, is not limited to one side of the aisle. But the Singham network stands out for its sheer scale, its ties to a foreign adversary, and the brazenness of its operations under the shelter of the tax code.
The grand jury subpoenas in Manhattan signal that prosecutors are past the preliminary stage. The SPONSOR Act sits in Congress waiting for a vote. And Singham sits in Shanghai, silent.
The open questions are significant. Has any of the $278 million, or $285 million, depending on the accounting, directly funded acts of violence, or merely organizations that organize aggressive protests? What did Goldman Sachs know about the ultimate destination of funds flowing through its donor-advised vehicle? And will Congress act before the next funding cycle sends another wave of tax-exempt dollars into the same pipeline?
American taxpayers subsidize the nonprofit sector through tax exemptions worth billions every year. They do so on the assumption that the money serves charitable, educational, or religious purposes. When a tech mogul living under the protection of the Chinese Communist Party exploits that system to fund groups that confront U.S. senators and rally against federal immigration enforcement, the assumption breaks down.
If the tax code cannot distinguish between a soup kitchen and a propaganda pipeline, the tax code needs fixing. Cruz has a bill that would start. The DOJ has an investigation that might finish the job. The question is whether Washington moves fast enough to matter, or whether the loopholes outlast the outrage, as they usually do.
