A new complaint requests that the federal government investigate the tax-exempt status of a left-wing nonprofit that has allegedly fomented violent riots.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the complaint Tuesday morning with the IRS seeking an investigation into People’s Forum, Inc., a New York-based Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) linked to socialist megadonor Neville Roy Singham. CASA’s complaint alleges that People’s Forum routinely organizes and funds protests that engage in illegal activity.

"People's Forum Inc. is the tax-exempt fiscal sponsor of many progressive and radical organizations, including the Venceremos Brigade, which engage in demonstrations often crossing the threshold from protected speech into illegal activity, including many which have resulted in arrests, violence against police officers, and interference in federal immigration enforcement," said CASA Director James Fitzpatrick. "We believe the many potentially illegal activities that People's Forum has engaged in are grounds for a potential revocation of their tax-exempt charitable status. An immediate and full IRS investigation is appropriate to make this determination."

Singham is an American millionaire who currently lives in Shanghai, China, and has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The New York Times documented the financial ties and ideological alignment of People’s Forum and the Chinese Communist Party, though Singham and his wife, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans, deny receiving any funds from the Chinese government. The People’s Forum also has ties to the Venceremos Brigade, a left-wing group founded in 1969 that organizes solidarity trips to Cuba to support the communist regime. In 2024, the People’s Forum began sponsoring the Venceremos Brigade, according to VB’s own website. The VB is not tax-exempt, but the People’s Forum’s fiscal sponsorship provides the organization with a tax-exempt umbrella status.

Fox News’ Asra Nomani explained in March that the People’s Forum “coordinated protests nationwide that chase the day’s headlines, including: #FreePalestine #FromTheRiverToTheSea protests after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel, #HandsOffIran after U.S. military strikes in the summer of 2025, #HandsOffVenezuela following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro in January and now #ICEOut, #HandsOffIran and #LetCubaLive.” Nomani alleged in her article that the People’s Forum and its allies orchestrated the supposedly organic protest against the death of Renee Good.

Pro-Hamas events at college campuses

CASA’s complaint also alleges that the People’s Forum took an active role in coordinating pro-Hamas encampments on college campuses following the October 7, 2023, atrocities against Israel. Jennifer Baker, a senior research fellow at the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, explained that People’s Forum and other groups involved in the “Shut It Down for Palestine” campaign “benefit from funding and messaging consistent with China’s global strategy, promoting itself as a defender of justice while weakening U.S. influence.”

A report from the Capital Research Center, a non-partisan, tax-exempt think tank, found that the Shut It Down for Palestine coalition shut down highways, train stations, and bridges. The People’s Forum has publicly called for its supporters to mobilize to stop the City College of New York from sweeping its anti-Israel encampment.

Further, CASA alleges in its complaint that the People’s Forum joined around 100 organizations to oppose a bill that would remove tax-exempt status from any nonprofits that supported terrorist organizations. Just The News previously covered the People’s Forum’s involvement in nationwide shutdowns.

"Through their financial and logistical support of the nationwide protests and riots, in which participants regularly engage in violence, destroy property, and resist arrest, the People's Forum may be engaging in illegal activity in violation of several federal and state laws, and are certainly increasing the governmental burden of law enforcement,” CASA’s complaint says. 

“Notably, it is a federal crime to incite, organize, promote, encourage, participate in or carry on a riot," the complaint says, citing 18 U.S. Code § 2101, when the activity crosses state boundaries. 

The complaint continues to assert that "New York state law likewise makes it a crime to incite a riot, providing that 'A person is guilty of inciting to riot when he urges ten or more persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct of a kind likely to create public alarm.' Interference with interstate transit is also a federal crime under the Hobbs Act. The foregoing examples of illegal activity provide a sufficient basis to warrant a thorough investigation into the People's Forum's tax-exempt status."

Others eyeing The People's Forum's tax status

CASA is not alone in requesting the IRS investigate the People’s Forum’s tax-exempt status. In April 2025, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, as chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting an investigation into whether People’s Forum violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by not registering as a foreign agent based on its alleged connections to China.

“It appears that The People’s Forum’s values are heavily influenced by Singham’s money and China’s propaganda,” Grassley wrote at the time.