Two senior House Republicans asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS Chief Executive Frank Bisignano to investigate whether foreign money is being used to fund opposition against U.S. data center construction. In a letter sent on Tuesday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith and House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar alleged that the Chinese Communist Party is undermining American efforts to build artificial intelligence infrastructure by exploiting the U.S. charitable system.
The lawmakers focused their inquiry on Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon whom they describe as a communist. A Fox News Digital investigation found that Singham funneled $285 million since 2017 to six U.S. nonprofits through two shell corporations and a donor-advised fund managed by Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs stated it closed the Singham account in 2024. The recipients included Singham's wife Jodie Evan's group, CodePink, as well as the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition. Both latter groups self-identify as pro-China communist organizations.
Smith and Moolenaar requested that the agencies determine if these tax-exempt organizations have operated for the private or political benefit of foreign-aligned interests. They specifically asked whether donor-advised funds and intermediary entities were used to obscure the origin of foreign-directed money. The lawmakers claimed that influence operations linked to China are using tax-exempt status, nonprofit networks, and social media campaigns to fuel opposition to the data centers required for the U.S. AI industry.
Smith told Fox News Digital that China is helping fuel opposition to American AI infrastructure by providing a base for Singham to fund U.S. nonprofit groups involved in anti-data-center protests. He characterized the situation as China throwing gasoline on the fire, stating that the American people need to know that this movement is not organic. While acknowledging legitimate concerns regarding electricity costs and water usage, Smith argued that foreign-backed organizations should not exploit those concerns to slow U.S. technological development. He emphasized that tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and called for greater transparency into the flow of money among organizations connected to Singham.
Moolenaar described groups presenting themselves as grassroots as astroturf funded by entities working in partnership with the Chinese Communist Party. He stated that these organizations manipulate messaging to turn Americans against technologies like data centers so China can gain dominance in the field. Moolenaar pointed to the use of community groups, propaganda, and online bots as tools for this influence. He said the lawmakers are seeking greater transparency into these organizations' funding and whether their political activity violates federal rules, including potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The letter cited a June report from OpenAI that identified two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating in China used in covert influence operations targeting U.S. debates over AI policy. One campaign, dubbed Data Center Bandwagon, generated social media content claiming data center construction was raising electricity prices for average families. OpenAI said it found no evidence the operation achieved meaningful breakout beyond its own activity but noted it demonstrated how foreign operators can exploit local concerns.
The lawmakers also cited a report from the Bitcoin Policy Institute identifying 21 campaigns against data centers led by the Party for Socialism and Liberation across 14 states. The report stated these campaigns contributed to 10 data-center moratoria, one permanent ban, and four rejected or scrapped projects, representing nearly $23.68 billion in proposed investment. A bicameral group of congressional committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, has reviewed how alleged CCP-linked influence operations may be leveraging America's tax-exempt sector to incite division and weaken democratic processes.