Two senior House Republicans have asked the Treasury Department and the IRS to investigate whether money tied to China has been routed through U.S. nonprofit groups to slow down the construction of artificial intelligence data centers across the country, including a recent protest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
In a letter sent Tuesday and disclosed to Fox News Digital, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano to look into whether foreign funds have been funneled through America’s charitable system to block data center projects the U.S. needs to compete with China in AI.
The letter centers on hundreds of millions of dollars that American-born tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham has given to nonprofits and advocacy groups that are now leading opponents of data center development nationwide. Groups that have received Singham’s money include the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition, both self-described pro-China communist organizations.
Earlier this month, activists from both groups appeared at a protest in Chapel Hill, where signs combined opposition to former President Trump with support for communist Cuba and messages against data centers and AI development, including one reading “SHUT IT DOWN!”
“Under no circumstances can we allow an adversary, and our most serious competitor in AI infrastructure, to weaponize our own tax code and harm an emerging American industry,” Smith and Moolenaar wrote.
What investigators found
A Fox News Digital investigation found that Singham funneled $285 million since 2017 to six U.S. nonprofits, including CodePink, a group run by his wife Jodie Evans, using two shell corporations and a donor-advised fund managed by Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs said it closed the Singham account in 2024.
The nonprofits have operated with tax-deductible status while promoting communist governments, organizing street protests and, according to the lawmakers, stirring anti-American sentiment. The groups have denied being part of any foreign influence effort, and Singham has not responded to requests for comment.
Smith told Fox News Digital that China is helping fuel opposition to American AI infrastructure by backing Singham as he funds groups involved in data center protests.
“This is the Chinese helping throw the gasoline on the fire,” Smith said. “The American people need to know that this is not just an organic movement.”
Smith said Americans have legitimate concerns about data centers, particularly their effect on electricity costs and water use, but argued foreign-backed groups should not be allowed to exploit those concerns to slow U.S. technology development.
“Tax exempt is a privilege. It is not a right,” Smith said. “We need to make sure that we’re not subsidizing tax dollars to help create hostility and unrest in our country.”
‘AstroTurf’ concerns
Moolenaar said groups that appear to be grassroots opposition are actually advancing Chinese Communist Party goals.
“Groups that portray themselves as grassroots are really more AstroTurf — very fake — being funded by entities that are working in partnership with the Chinese Communist Party,” Moolenaar said.
He said the concern is that these networks are manipulating public opposition to technologies like data centers
