Leftist firm defending Singham Network from House probe also tied to the Marxist network

The Singham Network is resisting congressional oversight by House Republicans through the use of a law firm which is itself closely tied to organizations that are part of the financial network led by the wealthy Marxist businessman who lives in China.

The House Ways and Means Committee revealed earlier in May that, in response to oversight letters sent by the GOP-led committee to groups within the Singham Network, the far-left groups had responded through lawyers who were pushing back against the GOP oversight requests.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) — an activist firm based in the nation’s capital — responded to Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., on behalf of The People’s Forum, and the PCJF and the Law Office of Andrew D. Herman teamed up to send a letter back to the committee on behalf of the Singham-linked BreakThrough News.

Herman also apparently sent a letter back to the committee on behalf of the Singham-linked "Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research."

Notably, the address for the PCJF is at 617 Florida Avenue NW in the nation’s capital. This same address is referred to as the “Justice Center” by Singham Network-linked groups such as the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), both of which have used the address for meetings and organizing over the years. ANSWER has even used that address on its donations page.

Records show that Verheyden-Hilliard and Messineo own the property in downtown Washington, D.C.

One letter sent by Smith to the PCJF was in response to a letter that Verheyden-Hilliard had apparently sent to the House Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the Manhattan-based Marxist revolutionary group known as the People’s Forum. Verheyden-Hilliard’s letter was not made public by the House committee.

More than $20 million flowed to the organization from Mr. Singham

Smith wrote that “in its response, PCJF questions the legislative purpose underlying the Committee’s inquiry” but that “the case law PCJF invokes confirms rather than undermines the legitimacy of the Committee’s inquiry.”

“Here, the Committee’s concerns are rooted in the financing of The People’s Forum and its relationship to Neville Roy Singham, a former United States technology executive now residing in Shanghai with documented CCP affiliations,” Smith wrote. “The People’s Forum has publicly acknowledged receiving funding from Mr. Singham, and public reporting indicates that more than $20 million flowed to the organization from Mr. Singham and his wife between 2017 and 2022 – channeled through shell companies and donor-advised funds that, by design, obscure the true source of contributions.”

The House chairman added: “The Committee is examining whether the current legal standards governing tax-exempt status adequately account for this type of foreign-aligned funding arrangement and whether such funding arrangements align with Congress’ intent when tax-exempt status was created originally.”

Smith’s committee held a hearing in February on "Foreign Influence in American Non-Profits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond” where the Singham network featured prominently. The chairman stressed that “the Committee has worked tirelessly to unravel the Singham-CCP network.”

Verheyden-Hilliard has been a speaker at a number of Singham Network events, including one on “McCarthyism” organized by Tricontinental and one about a “United National Antiwar Coalition” organized by the People’s Forum. Just the News has previously reported on how these and other radical activist groups have leadership links or financial ties to the funding network backed by Neville Roy Singham, who himself is linked to the CCP and whom some in his network call "Comrade." 

The PCJF in January 2025 said that it “challenges Trump's Executive Order targeting pro-Palestinian protestors as a ‘racist and unhinged’ attack on free speech [...] Read PCJF Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard’s complete statement on the unlawful arrest and abduction of Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil,” the group urged its X followers in March 2025.

The PCJF website says that, for three decades, it has been “a leader in the fight to uncompromisingly defend democracy and advance constitutional rights by litigating landmark civil rights and First Amendment cases and providing robust defense to social justice activists and movements” with a focus on “creating meaningful social and legal changes and dismantling systems of repression.”

PCJF leader Verheyden-Hilliard — representing the People’s Forum — did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.

Law firm leaders own D.C. property used by Singham Network groups

The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue says that, as of a 2007 sale date, the owners of the downtown D.C. location used by ANSWER, PSL, and others are PCJF leaders Verheyden-Hilliard and Messineo.

The D.C. Real Property Finder website also lists Verheyden-Hilliard and Messineo as the owners of the property. A copy of the deed obtained by the Washington Examiner also shows ownership by Verheyden-Hilliard and Messineo and a transaction date of 2007. The right-leaning American Thinker reported all the way back in 2014 that “the National Office for ANSWER is 617 Florida Avenue.”

The ANSWER Coalition’s donation website as recently as December 2024 stated that “donations to PUF [Progress Unity Fund] / ANSWER Coalition are processed by our fiscal sponsor, the Progress Unity Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization” and that “to make a tax-deductible donation by check, make it out to Progress Unity Fund / ANSWER and send to: Progress Unity Fund / ANSWER” at “617 Florida Ave.” The ANSWER Coalition’s Los Angeles chapter for years, up through at least February 2026, listed the 617 Florida Avenue address on their donation page.

By early 2025, the donation page for ANSWER’s national group stated that donations to ANSWER should be sent to the Progress Unity Fund or to ANSWER at “167 Anderson Street” in San Francisco.

The PUF’s most recent 990 tax form, filed in October 2025, lists the San Francisco address.

Human Events had reported back in 2006 that “the donations page on the group’s website says that contributions made by check to ANSWER should be made out to a tax-exempt California non-profit called the Progress Unity Fund” and that “this group and ANSWER list the same San Francisco office address.”

The close links between ANSWER and the PCJF

The 617 Florida Avenue address — described as the “Justice Center” by ANSWER — has been used by the ANSWER Coalition over the years repeatedly as a meeting location and organizing space.

The House of Representatives has sent letters to ANSWER Coalition national organizer Brian Becker by addressing him at that location. Becker is reportedly also a “founding member” of PSL, and he is also listed as an “instructor” on the People’s Forum website, where he has taught classes on “Lenin and the Path to Revolution” and the “History of the Communist Manifesto.”

Map Quest provides “step-by-step walking or driving directions to Act Now to Stop War & End Racism Coalition” and also provides the same location.

ANSWER held a 2010 press conference at the “Justice Center” described as “Civil Rights Attorneys to Speak at Press Conference on Targeting of Anti-War Organization’s Free Speech.” The ANSWER Coalition also organized a “National March on Washington D.C. to Support Palestine” in 2016 where their followers were encouraged to “join ANSWER and Al-Awda for a sign-making work session at” the same address.

There was also a protest by ANSWER to “Support Palestine in D.C.! Protest AIPAC!” in 2017 where there was a “sign-making work session at Justice Center.”

The ANSWER Coalition has used the location on its protest permits, including a 2017 protest whose goal was to “stand against fascism and white supremacy.”

Close links between the PCJF property and revolutionary socialist party

The same property owned by the leaders of the PCJF has also been used for organizing and meetings by PSL, including PSL’s local D.C. chapter, with the Singham-linked socialist party also calling the location the “Justice Center.”

An event in 2017 on “The Crisis in Puerto Rico: A Story of U.S. Colonialism” hosted by PSL was held at that location.

“PSL D.C. is hosting an open meeting,” at the same location in 2022 the group said. “We'll eat lunch together and discuss issues going on in our communities, and it will be a great place to meet others in the movement and make great connections so we can continue our struggles.”

PSL’s D.C. chapter also held a “Summer Struggle General Meeting” at the location in 2022.

Tina Landis, a writer for PSL’s Liberation News, also went on a “beyond capitalism” national speaking tour with the same address as one of the stops.

The far-left National Network on Cuba (NNOC) also tweeted in 2023, “Film screening of ‘Castro’s Spies’ at the Justice Center DC! Thank you PSL DC and [Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee] for hosting the first event of our #OffTheList Weekend of Action!”

Membership organizations within NNOC include the Singham-linked Code Pink as well as the Communist Party USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Socialist Workers Party. 

“We’re building a people’s red line for Palestine! Help assemble artwork and materials, set up a popular street gallery for Palestine in the streets of DC, and meet leading organizers in the DC community for Palestine!” the PSL said in a 2024 Instagram post post directing followers to the same address.

The PSL in 2024 used the same “Justice Center” location for a recruitment event. “Interested in the PSL? Come meet members locally and discuss the PSL program!” the socialist group said. “The members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation are united by the party’s program. Socialism can only be achieved by a mass movement of millions of people organized to fight for what is rightfully theirs. In working to build the movement that will usher in the next revolution — a socialist revolution — the PSL puts forward a program that outlines what a genuine workers’ government would do.”

Progress Unity Fund serves as fiscal sponsor for ANSWER

The Progress Unity Fund (PUF) is the fiscal sponsor for the ANSWER Coalition, meaning donations to ANSWER flow through the PUF. The conservative Influence Watch describes the PUF as a “a radical-left fiscal sponsorship organization that supports the ANSWER Coalition, an anti-war and anti-Israel protest organization; Justice First, an advocacy organization with extensive connections to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a socialist political party in San Francisco, California; and Women Organized to Resist and Defend, a pro-abortion feminist organization.”

The Network Contagion Research Institute has recently reported that “ANSWER Coalition and PUF shared an address in San Francisco, which also served as a frequent venue for Party for Socialism and Liberation activities, indicating a significant overlap between the three.”

The American Thinker reported in 2014 that the Progress Unity Fund had the address of 167 Anderson Street in San Francisco — the same address it lists today.

PCJF provides extensive help to Singham-linked ANSWER Coalition

‘The PCJF has for many years assisted ANSWER in federal court in defense of the group’s protests. The Department of the Interior sent letters, including in 2018, addressed to both the ANSWER Coalition and the PCJF related to ANSWER Coalition protests.

The Washington Examiner reported in late 2024 that ANSWER “notably orchestrated a July anti-Israel protest in Washington, D.C., that turned violent, according to a public gathering permit” and that “on the permit, the ANSWER Coalition listed three on-site contacts: Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo, a married couple who co-founded and lead the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, as well as Layan Fuleihan. Fuleihan is a top staffer for the People’s Forum.”

The House Committee on Natural Resources wrote a September 2024 memo on an ANSWER protest that had been held, noting that “although the permit was issued to the ANSWER Coalition, the permit listed specific responsible parties as persons in charge and on-site contacts. Brian Becker, ANSWER’s national coordinator who is also an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is listed as the person in charge. Layan Fuleihan, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, and Carl Messineo are listed as on-site contacts.”

PCJF leader Verheyden-Hilliard and a host of Singham Network leaders also signed a statement organized by ANSWER which was an “Open letter against intimidation at Harvard: Defend the freedom to speak in support of Palestine!”

The PCJF recently used its X account to urge their followers to join the ANSWER Coalition’s recent protests opposing the war with Iran.

The PCJF critiqued Trump and touted ANSWER Coalition protests against him as recently as April.

“Trump’s statement that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight never to be brought back again’ is a call for genocide against 93 million people in Iran, an overt violation of international and federal law, and every moral code known to humanity,” the PCJF said last month. “All those who effectuate these war crimes and atrocities are war criminals themselves under the laws enshrined after Nuremberg. Members of the armed services swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a king, and anyone who is asked to participate in the execution of war crimes has a moral and legal obligation to refuse.”

The PCJF said that “Trump does not speak with the consent of the people of the U.S. We have the First Amendment right to oppose this criminally insane threat.” The PCJF also encouraged its followers to “join a protest near you” and linked to those being organized by the ANSWER Coalition.

The PCJF also has links to the pro-CCP group called Pivot to Peace, which itself also has strong connections to both the ANSWER Coalition and the broader Singham Network.

Pivot to Peace’s “Inaugural Webinar: Why there should be a Pivot to Peace, Not War, with China” was held in July 2020, with the group saying that “a new international peace movement is being launched that opposes the new U.S. military doctrine that is preparing this country for ‘major power conflict’ with China.”

The speakers for this event included the PCJF’s Verheyden-Hilliard, described as a “Constitutional Rights Lawyer.” Other speakers included Pivot to Peace founder Sheila Xiao, Brian Becker of ANSWER, Eugene Puryear of BreakThrough News, and others.

Also listed among the “Initial Signers of the Pivot to Peace Mission Statement” was the PCJF's Verheyden-Hilliard.

The LA Progressive described Xiao as “the co-founder of the peace organization Pivot to Peace” as well as the “chair of the Los Angeles chapter of the ANSWER Coalition.”

Xiao and Manolo De Los Santos — the executive director of the People’s Forum — have collaborated on projects together, including co-authoring a 2022 piece promoting The People’s Summit for Democracy.

Jodie Evans — Singham’s wife and the co-leader of Code Pink — launched the China Is Not Our Enemy campaign in 2020. Evans hosted Xiao for an episode in November 2020.

“As we continue to dismantle the hate and aggression towards China in efforts to prevent another Cold War, we are engaging in conversations with people across the globe,” Code Pink said at the time. “This week CODEPINK cofounder, Jodie Evans will be in conversation with Sheila Xiao of Pivot to Peace to talk U.S. China relations and how the efforts of organizations like Pivot to Peace play a role in dismantling the aggression.”

Pivot to Peace shared the conversation with Evans too.

The PUF — the fiscal sponsor for ANSWER — is also the fiscal sponsor for Pivot to Peace.

One leader within Pivot to Peace, Litang “Henry” Liang, was indicted by the DOJ in May 2023 for allegedly “acting as an agent” of the Chinese government. He was found not guilty by a jury in February 2025.

American Enterprise Institute fellow Audrye Wong testified later in 2025, after the not guilty verdict, that “this case illustrates how United Front mobilization also operates in a gray area whereby pro-China individuals can be incentivized or empowered to promote CCP interests even if not directly employed by the Chinese government, which contributes to a broader atmosphere of transnational repression even as the burden of proof for law enforcement becomes trickier.”

Congressional oversight of Singham Network stymied 

Republicans in Congress have spent years pushing the Justice Department and IRS to scrutinize and investigate the CCP-linked activist network in the U.S., but so far the groups organizing far-left protests nationwide appear to retain their tax-exempt status and have avoided any foreign agent laws regarding prosecutions.

GOP members have long called for investigations into the Singham network, its links to the CCP, its leadership in nationwide leftwing protests, and its role in anti-Israel encampments, vandalism, and violence on campus. The GOP has wanted the DOJ to look into possible Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations and has called upon the Treasury Department and IRS to consider revoking the tax-exempt status for Singham’s network of non-profits.

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee also voted this year to subpoena Singham for information about this sprawling activist network.

Just the News reported on how the Singham network, prominently including the People’s Forum, helped lead protests last year against the deportation of Columbia University encampment protest leader Mahmoud Khalil last year, and further reported on how an anti-Israel documentary film — The Encampments — featuring Khalil was produced by the Singham network’s BreakThrough Media.

The Singham network groups also helped organize protests this year to oppose the deportation of Khalil.

Just the News also reported on how anti-ICE protests last year were organized by PSL, the People’s Forum, and others in the Singham network.

The Singham network — led by the People’s Forum in particular, as well as ANSWER, Code Pink, and PSL — also played a key role in leading renewed anti-ICE protests earlier this year as well, including attempts to organize a nationwide shutdown.

The People’s Forum, Code Pink, ANSWER, and PSL were also key organizers of nationwide protests opposing the U.S. military arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, with Chinese state-run media promoting these CCP-linked protests, Just the News reported.

Just the News also reported on how Chinese state-run propaganda outlets are now promoting U.S. protests against the Trump Administration’s strikes against the Iranian regime, with the protests featured by the CCP-run outlets having been organized by the Singham network.

Singham did not respond to a request for comment sent to him through his wife.

The People’s Forum responded to GOP calls for investigations with derision back in 2024. “The political assault against the People’s Forum is part of a larger effort by Republicans and other right-wing forces in Congress to criminalize and demonize Palestinian, Muslim-American, and anti-war organizations,” the communist outfit tweeted at the time.