American patriots woke up this week to a raw reminder that the unrest on our streets isn’t always spontaneous — sometimes it’s bankrolled. Investigations point to Neville Roy Singham, a wealthy former tech CEO who now lives in Shanghai, as a major financier behind a network of left-wing groups that helped organize and amplify the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that at times veered into pro-Hamas territory.
Singham built ThoughtWorks and sold it for hundreds of millions, then quietly moved his life and money to China while funding a tangle of nonprofits and media fronts back in the United States. Those nonprofits, including a Manhattan event hub called the People’s Forum and allied activist groups, have been linked by researchers to the recent campus occupations and street protests that disrupted law-abiding Americans and vilified our allies.
The George Washington University Program on Extremism laid out how Singham’s network intersects with campaigns like Shut It Down for Palestine and other protest coalitions, showing that money, messaging, and logistics flowed through organizations in his orbit. This isn’t just charity; it is organized political influence, and when foreign-aligned money shapes protests that at times celebrated or excused Hamas, Americans deserve answers.
Worse, reputable reporting has shown Singham’s operations overlap with Chinese state media and propaganda outfits, raising the alarm that Beijing’s influence machine may be using American activists as unwitting tools to weaken U.S. global leadership. If true, it is an outrage that a U.S.-born multimillionaire living in Shanghai can funnel cash into activism that amplifies narratives convenient to a rival superpower.
Congress has already begun to circle, demanding investigations and threatening subpoenas as members on both sides of the aisle wake up to the reality of foreign-directed influence funding domestic unrest. Lawmakers should move swiftly to enforce transparency laws, pursue tax-exempt status reviews, and require full disclosure under FARA where appropriate so donors cannot hide behind fiscal shells while stoking division.
Patriots should be furious but purposeful: furious that our streets and campuses became political theater fueled by hidden cash, and purposeful in calling for accountability. We must protect free speech while refusing to let American discourse be bought and manipulated by billionaires who live under foreign regimes or who fund extremist networks. The safety of our communities and the integrity of our republic depend on rooting out the shadow money and exposing the ideological operatives behind the chaos.
Every hardworking American who believes in law, order, and honest politics should demand a full accounting — not polite statements and denials, but documents, audits, and subpoenaed testimony if necessary. This isn’t about silencing dissent; it’s about stopping foreign-influenced dark money from turning legitimate protest into a weapon against our country and our allies.
