Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based businessman accused of promoting Chinese Communist Party messaging, has donated to several prominent progressive politicians. His activist network is also drawing attention in Washington this week.
Federal Election Commission records show Singham and his wife, CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, have contributed more than $47,000 combined to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Chuy García of Illinois.
Omar’s campaign received $4,200 from the couple between 2019 and 2023. Singham gave $2,700 in March 2019, weeks after Omar took office. Evans made two donations totaling $1,500 in November and December 2023. The contributions have not been refunded.
Sanders’ campaigns received at least $6,800 from Singham and Evans, most of it for his presidential runs. Singham gave $2,700 to Sanders’ 2016 campaign. Evans contributed $2,800 that year, of which $200 was returned, and gave at least $252 to his 2020 campaign in 2019. She also donated $1,250 to his Senate campaign committee in 2011.
García’s campaign received $1,000 from Singham in August 2018. At the time, García was running for his first term in Congress after winning the Democratic primary in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District, which includes Chicago. The donation has not been refunded.
Jayapal received the largest amount among the four lawmakers: a net $35,700 from the couple between 2016 and 2022. Singham contributed $17,800, none of which was returned. Evans gave $22,900, and the campaign refunded $5,000 in three payments from 2020 to 2023. Most of their donations arrived in 2019 and 2021, including maximum contributions from Singham in both years.
Federal Election Commission rules give campaigns 10 days to decide whether to deposit a check or return it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign returned a $500 donation from Evans on the day it arrived, Aug. 4, 2018, during Ocasio-Cortez’s first congressional campaign.
The offices of Sanders, Jayapal, García, Ocasio-Cortez and Omar did not respond to requests for comment.
After marrying Evans in 2017 and selling ThoughtWorks, the technology company he founded, Singham directed $285 million to nonprofit and media organizations, according to tax filings and an investigation into his donations. The People’s Forum received $22.4 million, CodePink received $1.33 million, and BreakThrough BT Media Inc., which operates BreakThrough News, received $1.098 million. Singham and Evans are U.S. citizens and now live in Shanghai.
Groups associated with Singham’s network have taken part in protests opposing immigration enforcement, capitalism, data centers and Israel. Some of the demonstrations have received national news and social media attention.
Last month, Evans and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin traveled through China on a 12-day tour that included stops in Shanghai, Chongqing, Zunyi, Loushanguan, Maotai Village and Guiyang. The advertised price ranged from $3,000 to $4,000, depending on the number of participants. The itinerary promised attendees a chance to explore China’s revolutionary history and see what organizers described as modern socialist development.
CodePink promotes the message that China “is not our enemy” and highlights the country’s revolutionary history.
Federal and congressional investigations into the Singham network are underway, including a grand jury inquiry led by the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Singham has not been charged with a crime.
At a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing in September, Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez cited research indicating that Singham shares premises with Maku Cultural Communication, a Chinese communications company that promotes a favorable image of China. Gonzalez also said Singham was photographed at a Chinese Communist Party strategic communications workshop in 2023.
In a video recorded at a Shanghai conference in November 2025, Singham expressed support for “a new world order that is based on multilateralism that President Xi and the CPC [Communist Party of China] and China have proposed.”
Earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met in New York with Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon. People familiar with the meeting said Bessent urged Solomon to cooperate with federal investigators and warned that the bank could face scrutiny over alleged coordination related to Singham’s funding.
One person familiar with the meeting said the discussion was not contentious and that Solomon agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department inquiry. A bank spokesperson said distributions from Singham’s donor-advised fund went to legal nonprofits, as determined by the IRS. The account made no distributions after August 2023 and closed in early 2024.
Singham, Evans and CodePink did not respond to requests for comment.
