People’s Forum building identified as investigators probe Singham network

NEW YORK – The People’s Forum Inc., the pro-China nonprofit funded by Shanghai-based Marxist leader Neville Roy Singham, bought a rundown building in Manhattan for $5.15 million and is now calling on supporters to raise another $5 million to renovate the building and turn it into a “permanent home” for far-left organizing efforts in the United States.

The fundraising effort comes as lawmakers and federal officials are investigating Singham’s network over what they describe as a foreign-linked influence operation promoting Chinese Communist Party narratives in the United States. Scrutiny over China’s influence has intensified in recent days, including the resignation of a California mayor who pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China.

The People’s Forum, a central organization within the Singham network, says it serves as a hub for more than 200 organizations and has helped coordinate left-wing protests across the US since its founding in 2017.

Group said X On Friday, his supporters said he was urgently trying to raise $2 million from individual donors by December 2026, his first major fundraising goal since launching a broader $5 million campaign in September.

The group has not publicly disclosed the address of the new building, but property records obtained by Fox News Digital show it purchased a three-story building at 137 W. 14th Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood in December 2024 for $5.15 million. Sources familiar with the transaction told Fox News Digital that the W. 14th Street building is the nonprofit’s new headquarters. Details of the transaction and records documenting the sale are reported here for the first time. The records do not include details of how the purchase was financed.

Far-left nonprofits on the hot seat as lawmaker denounces them for ‘sowing chaos’ in US

The fundraising and expansion effort comes as Congress is probing what lawmakers describe as a “network of foreign-linked influence” tied to Singham. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., said the nonprofit’s funding structures raise “significant concerns” about “foreign influence or control.”

Singham funneled $285 million to his vast network of nonprofits since 2017, according to a Fox News Digital investigation, and Justice, State and Treasury Department officials are investigating financial activities connected to the network, including $22.5 million in funds directed to the People’s Forum.

According to Fox News Digital, the Singham network has been leading volatile protests across the country since 2017; Organizations such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation, ANSWER Coalition, CodePink and BreakThrough News are working with the People’s Forum to organize demonstrations and coordinate messages.

The People’s Forum, which boasts of publishing “more than 25 revolutionary texts” and organizing “more than 6,000 events”, said on its website that it had initially relied on the support of a “generous donor” to set up its activities in 2017, but new cash injections were urgently needed.

Organization: “Our first donation is running out” wrote In an appeal filed in September, he added that he now faced a “critical new phase”. The organization said the new building was “currently just a shell” and would require millions in renovations before it could become operational.

The narrow, mixed-use property appeared vacant when Fox News Digital visited Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Scroll to see more exterior images

Previously used by a curtain and blind business, the front of the store was painted black, its signage was removed and the front windows were covered with a dark tarpaulin. Entry doors appeared to be lined with brown paper, and a metal fire escape ran along the tan exterior. Property records describe the building as an approximately 2,580-square-foot lot with a footprint of approximately 25 feet wide and 96 feet deep.

“We need your help to make this urgent project a reality,” the group wrote on Friday, amid a renewed fundraising campaign, sharing images of the building’s interior in disrepair, including exposed wires and other structural damage.

The acquisition and fundraising effort reflects the group’s effort to expand its organizational infrastructure and raises questions about the scale and scope of its operations.

PHOTOS: Scroll to see more interior images

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The group has previously said its decision to purchase the new building was driven in part by the need to replace existing leased space and create a permanent base that, in its words, “could not be threatened by landlords or political attacks”.

The building previously sold for approximately $4.3 million in 2022; That means the People’s Forum paid $850,000 more after two years.

City records also show the building has active violations, including problems with the elevators and boiler system, and approximately $20,000 in civil penalties currently outstanding, indicating the building requires significant repairs.

“Renovating the state of disrepair in this building will require millions of dollars,” the group said in a post on Friday. So far, it has raised about $570,000 for the renovations. website.

PHOTOS: Scroll to see more interior images

Far-left nonprofits on the hot seat as lawmaker denounces them for ‘sowing chaos’ in US

The People’s Forum operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which allows it to receive tax-deductible donations pursuant to U.S. law.

Although the property is owned by the People’s Forum, city files show that the group’s organizing director, David Chung, signed a certificate of ownership attached to the building in October 2025.

It was stated in previous Fox News Digital reports that Chung, who was born in South Korea and grew up in New York, directed protest activities in New York City. At one protest, he referred to his supporters as “comrades.”

He also attended protests in the United States, where he referred to the “brutality of this imperialist system” and chanted “Free Palestine,” according to a video released by the organization. The group called the conflict in Gaza “genocide” in a caption accompanying the video.

The group said it had “educated more than 40,000 people” through its political education programs, positioning the field as a central node for activist organizing.

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The People’s Forum’s organizing director David Chung (left) and the group’s chief executive Manolo De Los Santos (right) are shown in a split image. Both were involved in organizing protest activities affiliated with the group. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

The 200 organizations that make up the People’s Forum are “united in the fight” for racial, gender, climate and economic justice, and the new building aims to play a vital role in the group’s future operations, Manolo De Los Santos, the group’s chief executive, said in a video released as part of the fundraising campaign.

De Los Santos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx, described the People’s Forum as a “center for learning and organizing” and a place where “we create strategy… and build solidarity to fight.”

“Your contribution is not just a donation, it is an investment in our collective future of freedom,” he said. “This is a direct act of resistance. This is how we protect the spaces that allow us to organize and win.”

The People’s Forum, De Los Santos and Chung did not respond to requests for comment.

WATCH: Organizing director of the People’s Forum, funded by pro-China businessman Neville Roy Singham, leads May 1 street protests in New York