House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., has issued subpoenas to three tax-exempt organizations tied to socialist megadonor Neville Roy Singham, an American multimillionaire living in Shanghai with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The subpoenas have been served, a spokesperson for Smith’s office told Just the News, on BreakThrough News, Tricontinental and The People’s Forum, all three of which are funded, at least in part, by Singham. The subpoenas come after nearly a year of the Committee’s attempts to get answers from the three non-profit organizations regarding foreign influence in U.S. nonprofits.

Hundreds of millions in campaign funding concealed

“For months, the Ways and Means Committee has been investigating how the Chinese Communist Party has been taking advantage of our country’s laws through its tax-exempt sector to sow chaos and division here in the United States,” Smith said in a statement. “Public reporting has traced hundreds of millions of dollars from Neville Roy Singham – a tech mogul living in Shanghai – that was funneled through a web of shell companies and donor-advised funds that concealed the true source of the money before it reached these organizations.”

The subpoenas request documents showing whether the organizations have received or transmitted funds connected to foreign nationals or foreign entities, contracts between those nationals or entities, documents and communications between employees and Singham or foreign nationals about the organization.

“Three non-profits connected to Mr. Singham – BreakThrough News, Tricontinental, and The People’s Forum – have stonewalled the Ways and Means Committee’s investigation. That ends now,” Smith said in his statement. “These subpoenas will compel the production of the documents they have withheld for months and will help expose how America’s tax laws and charitable sector may have been exploited to advance the CCP’s influence operations inside the United States. The American people deserve to know whether the CCP has exploited America’s tax-exempt sector to advance its agenda. These subpoenas will allow the Ways and Means Committee to identify the networks that exploit our tax laws, and further expose the urgent need for legislation to close those loopholes for good.”

Just the News reached out to each nonprofit that reportedly received subpoenas, but none responded prior to press time.

Singham under federal grand jury investigation

The congressional subpoenas are the latest move against Singham, who is also under federal investigation by a grand jury in New York for possible violations of tax and foreign agent laws, Just the News previously reported. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the grand jury to issue subpoenas as part of an investigation into Singham and his financial network. The investigation was launched by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York.

The grand jury revelation came shortly after a Just the News investigation into People’s Forum. At the time, the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) had filed a complaint with the IRS seeking a probe of the organization’s finances. Just the News has not at this time been able to verify whether that subpoena has been personally served on Singham.

"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," CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told Just the News at the time. 

"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," he added.

In addition to the House Ways and Means Committee and New York, last April, 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.