On July 10, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to present a briefing on DOJ's strategy to combat Beijing's influence in the United States and investigate potential Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations made by organizations with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In the letter, the lawmakers point to recent New York Times and Washington Free Beacon investigations into U.S. citizen Neville Roy Singham, who is alleged to have ties to the CCP. According to these investigations, Singham has backed organizations and nonprofits such as Code Pink, Shut it Down for Palestine, the United Community Fund, and the Justice and Education Fund, which "oppose U.S. interests and support U.S. adversaries." According to the letter, nearly $1.8 million has flowed from these nonprofits, backed by Singham, into Chinese media company Maku Group, an entity with ties to the CCP. The letter further states that Singham also appears to have ties to another CCP-related entity BreakThrough Media, which promotes "pro-CCP talking points and geopolitical interests."
This is not the first time that Sen. Rubio has called DOJ to action in investigating Singham. In August 2023, he authored a letter to DOJ urging the department to investigate Singham for potential FARA violations for his activities and ties to the CCP. "Make no mistake: we must not allow the CCP to succeed in winning the information war it is actively waging against our country. The United States can and should protect legitimate political discourse, but we must not tolerate attempts by our primary adversary to exploit our open system to promote its malign agenda," the July 10 letter stated. The letter closes by urging DOJ to brief lawmakers on their efforts to counter CCP misinformation and that DOJ investigate potential FARA violations for 18 entities that are linked to Singham.
This congressional effort reflects an increased focus by U.S. policymakers on ensuring that FARA is fully enforced. Wiley's FARA Handbook provides additional information on FARA. Please contact the attorneys listed on this alert with any questions.
Maddie Van Aken, a Legislative and Reporting Coordinator at Wiley Rein LLP, contributed to this alert.
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