Three U.S. tax-exempt nonprofits tied to Shanghai-based financier Neville Roy Singham face an October 20 deadline to turn over financial and organizational records as House investigators examine alleged Chinese Communist Party influence.
The People’s Forum, BreakThrough News and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research must comply with July subpoenas or face an escalation that could put 21 people under oath, U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-Missouri), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in an October 13 announcement.
“Either these organizations turn over the documents, or their leaders will answer the Committee’s questions under oath,” Smith said in the statement.
Smith accused Singham of pouring millions into the organizations to promote CCP propaganda while exploiting America’s nonprofit sector. He said the groups had resisted records requests and were defying congressional subpoenas.
The financial records lawmakers want
The People’s Forum alone received more than $20 million from Singham’s network, the committee said.
The committee’s September 4, 2025, letter cited a December 21, 2021, post in which The People’s Forum acknowledged receiving funding from Singham.
The organization also advertised a three-week course in October 2024 marking the Chinese Revolution’s 75th anniversary. Its course description welcomed “all who aim to study revolutionary processes in order to make one!”
Investigators want records on fiscal sponsorships involving foreign nationals or entities, along with communications involving Singham or other foreign principals about the organizations’ finances, governance and structure. Fiscal sponsorship can involve a nonprofit handling money or administrative work for another project.
The July subpoenas also seek records concerning foreign donors who contributed more than $5,000, directly or through intermediaries, according to the committee’s description of the demands.
The threatened deposition subpoenas would cover eight officials and staff at The People’s Forum, seven at BreakThrough News and six at Tricontinental, the committee said.
Singham himself is among the 21 potential deposition targets, Fox News reported October 18. The committee had not announced individual deposition subpoenas.
A dispute over funding and oversight
BreakThrough News disputed the committee’s demands in an October 9 statement, arguing that they infringe First Amendment protections. The organization said it receives no outside editorial direction and that all major donations came from U.S. organizations using U.S. financial institutions and complying with U.S. laws.
The committee says its inquiry will help determine whether existing tax-exemption standards adequately address foreign influence and control, and whether Congress should change those standards.
Smith first sought records from The People’s Forum in September 2025 and expanded the inquiry to BreakThrough News and Tricontinental in February 2026. He narrowed and renewed the demands in May letters before issuing subpoenas in July.
The Dallas Express previously examined Singham-linked funding in its coverage of socialist organizations’ mobilization following an ICE shooting in Austin. That reporting documented connections across a broader national and Texas activist network.
