FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is doubling down on his bill that would strip the tax-exempt status of individuals and organizations that funnel funds to nonprofits engaging in political violence as the Justice Department probes the finances of far-left financier Neville Roy Singham.
Fox News Digital learned that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the investigation by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton into the financial workings of a network of nonprofits funded by Singham.
“I’ve long said that Democrat billionaires are funding left-wing political violence to push anti-American and foreign-aligned interests through tax-exempt entities,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “The DOJ is absolutely right to investigate Neville Roy Singham’s funding network, which has been critical in bankrolling those efforts.”
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In March, Cruz introduced the Stop Proxy Organizations Nurturing Subversive Operations and Riots Act, or SPONSOR Act, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code to expand the liability of 501(c)(3) nonprofits for the groups they fund or sponsor. Under the legislation, such nonprofits would be criminally and civilly liable for violations of the law by their sponsored entities.
Critics allege that nonprofits in the Singham network use fiscal sponsorships so projects can avoid detection by law enforcement agencies and tax authorities. Cruz said he introduced the SPONSOR Act to “give law enforcement the tools they need to follow the money, close these loopholes and enforce accountability.”
According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham, a U.S. tech tycoon now living in Shanghai, has funneled $278 million into the broad network of nonprofits since 2017. The nonprofits regularly mobilize agitators for demonstrations across the country, including anti-ICE protests and anti-Israel protests, Fox News Digital has reported.
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Singham hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment that Fox News Digital has sent him over the past several months.
Singham routed his financial contributions through Goldman Sachs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc., a donor-advised fund, including $22.44 million to The People’s Forum Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit hub for far-left activity in Manhattan.
The People’s Forum is connected to a slew of proxy organizations, such as Venceremos Brigade, a controversial organization that has worked with Cuban government officials for decades to bring American activists to Cuba for political and labor solidarity work. The donation page for the Venceremos Brigade identifies it as a fiscally-sponsored project of the People’s Forum.
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ICE Out of New York, which is known for rallying agitators to protest ICE operations, also hosts events at The People’s Forum and has participated in a number of demonstrations with The People’s Forum coordinators.
Cruz chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, which oversees grants to the Justice Department and is responsible for the regulation of the court system. The committee regularly holds hearings with Justice Department officials.
“Loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code allow radical groups to use tax-exempt funds to bankroll violent, anti-American activity opaquely and therefore with impunity,” Cruz said in a statement when the bill was introduced. “The violence that has spread in recent years in our cities and on our college campuses is not organic. It is enabled by funding from well-resourced organizations that exploit such loopholes, including and especially through fiscal sponsorships.”
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, and the House version was introduced by Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas.
“Congress has a duty to safeguard the integrity of our nonprofit system and ensure our tax laws are not exploited by extremist or radical groups operating in the shadows,” Moran said in a statement when the legislation was introduced.
Cruz is joined by a host of GOP lawmakers who have criticized Singham’s pro-CCP influence in the U.S., with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, going as far as to call Singham a “traitor.”
Banks sat down with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, when he said that Singham’s nonprofit network poses a threat to the country. He highlighted CodePink, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that Banks said has targeted and confronted him directly on Capitol Hill.
Fox News Digital has identified direct funding from Singham to CodePink, which Singham’s wife Jodie Evans co-founded.
“Neville Singham is a traitor to our country. He has ties to the CCP,” Banks said. “He is an American citizen, but all of his loyalties lie with the Chinese Communist Party. And when you begin to untangle the web of his massive fortune and his philanthropic activities, the money that he sends to left-wing groups in America, and not just groups that espouse ideologies, but espouse violence.”