Remember all those “spontaneous” anti-war protests that magically appeared in Times Square within hours of Operation Epic Fury launching against Iran? Turns out they were about as spontaneous as a Chinese Communist Party press release — because that’s essentially what they were.
Buckle up, because this one connects some dots that nobody in the mainstream press wants you to see.
The People’s Forum, a New York City-based Marxist nonprofit that the State Department has formally identified as a CCP foreign influence operation, had protesters on the ground in Times Square with professionally printed signs before most Americans even knew we’d hit Iran. The ANSWER Coalition tweeted their “emergency action” call at 2:34 AM. The Party for Socialism and Liberation mobilized at 2:46 AM. The People’s Forum had their NYC rally organized by 2:52 AM.
Twenty-two minutes. Matching signs in New York, Chicago, Florida, Boston, and Portland. Most of us can’t order a pizza at 2:30 in the morning that fast.
So who’s bankrolling this astroturf machine? Meet Neville Roy Singham — or as his friends at the People’s Forum affectionately call him, “a Marxist comrade.”
Singham is a former American tech executive who sold his IT consulting company for $785 million in 2017 and promptly moved to Shanghai. He’s funneled more than $20 million to the People’s Forum through shell companies and donor-advised funds. His wife, Jodie Evans, is the co-founder of CODEPINK. He worked as a Huawei consultant from 2001 to 2008. The FBI previously investigated him for ties to “groups engaged in activities inimical to U.S. interests.”
But sure — his protest army is totally just patriotic Americans who are really, really concerned about peace. (And they all independently decided to use the exact same professionally printed signs. What a coincidence!)
Chinese state-run media — Xinhua, CGTN, the Global Times, People’s Daily — all immediately promoted these “American grassroots protests” across their platforms, quoting People’s Forum director Layan Fuleihan as if he were some independent voice and not a guy whose paycheck traces back to a man living down the street from CCP headquarters.
Pop quiz: Why does Beijing care this much about defending Iran?
Follow the money. China buys more than 80% of Iran’s total oil exports — roughly 1.38 million barrels per day. That’s 13.4% of China’s entire oil supply, purchased at a sweet $8 to $10 discount per barrel because it’s sanctioned crude that nobody else will touch. Do the math: that’s roughly $4 to $5 billion a year in savings. Operation Epic Fury threatens to blow that pipeline sky-high, and suddenly “Comrade” Singham’s protest network is burning the midnight oil. (Pun intended.)
They’re not marching for peace. They’re marching for Beijing’s cheap crude.
Here’s what makes this story bigger than one protest in Times Square.
The Soviets ran this exact playbook during the Cold War. The KGB funneled an estimated $600 million to $1 billion through front groups like the World Peace Council to organize “grassroots” anti-war protests across the West. GRU defector Stanislav Lunev claimed the USSR spent more funding American anti-war movements during Vietnam than they spent backing the actual Vietcong. Beijing watched all of that, took very careful notes, and built a better version — one that uses 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits instead of brown paper envelopes stuffed with rubles.
Same con. Shinier wrapper.
But here’s where “Comrade” Singham’s operation runs into a wall it didn’t see coming. Remember what happened when DOGE cut off USAID funding earlier this year? The protest groups went silent overnight because they were broke. You could hear crickets where the “resistance” used to be. The same thing is about to happen to the Singham network — except this time the weapon isn’t a funding freeze. It’s FARA.
In September 2025, Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing DOJ to use the Foreign Agents Registration Act against organizations funneling foreign money into domestic chaos. In February 2026, a Chinese agent named Yuanjun Tang got four years in federal prison for acting as an unregistered agent of the PRC. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith has been demanding People’s Forum records since last September. You can practically hear the People’s Forum board members right now: “Wait, you mean we were supposed to register as foreign agents? We thought the shell companies took care of that!”
Mark my words: the People’s Forum loses its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status before the end of the year. And when it does, Singham’s entire dark money pipeline collapses — because donor-advised funds and shell companies only work when there’s a tax-exempt entity on the receiving end to launder the cash. No nonprofit status, no money. No money, no matching protest signs in five cities at 2:30 in the morning.
Beijing’s been running this con since before most of those protesters were born. The only difference is that this time, somebody’s actually coming for the receipt.