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Neville Roy Singham: The American millionaire with NewsClick-China links

The retired American entrepreneur has been accused of spreading Chinese propaganda worldwide

Neville Roy Singham

Photo: Thoughtworks

BS Web Team New Delhi

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On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised allegations regarding a connection between the Congress party, news portal NewsClick, and China, suggesting the existence of an "anti-India umbilical cord." This came after Union Minister Anurag Thakur pointed to a report by The New York Times (NYT), indicating that companies associated with China were providing financial backing to NewsClick.
 
Within this controversy, the report from the NYT also spotlighted the involvement of American millionaire Neville Roy Singham. The article claimed that NewsClick formed part of a global network that received funding from Singham to disseminate Chinese propaganda within India purportedly.
 
 
The report added corporate filings showed that Singham's network in New Delhi financed the news site, NewsClick. It added that the coverage by the news site was filled with "Chinese government talking points".
 
Who is Neville Roy Singham?
 
Neville Roy Singham was born in the United States on May 13, 1954. According to a report by Hindustan Times, Singham's father, Archibald Singham, was of Burmese birth to Sri Lankan parents. Archibald Singham was a political science professor at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York until his passing in 1991.
 
Neville Singham holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Howard University in the United States and has studied at the University of Michigan.
 
According to his LinkedIn profile, Singham is the founder and former chairman of ThoughtWorks, a software consultancy based in Chicago. He contributed to the company for approximately 24 years, from 1993 until 2017. His work with the company also earned him a spot on Foreign Policy magazine's "Top 50 Global Thinkers" in 2009.
 
In 2016, Singham married activist Jodie Evans, a former Democratic political consultant and co-founder of Code Pink. The NYT suggested that CodePink, previously a vocal critic of China, appears to have shifted its stance recently, potentially connected to Singham's network of funding.
 
Presently, Singham maintains an office space in Shanghai, China, situated on the 18th floor of Times Square. As per The New York Times, within this space, one outlet within his network is co-producing a YouTube show partially financed by the city's propaganda department.
 
Described as a "socialist benefactor of far-left causes," the 69-year-old millionaire has faced allegations of direct involvement with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China. Nevertheless, his LinkedIn profile indicates his present professional status as "retired."
 
Investigations in Singham's network
 
According to a report in the Economic Times, an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021 revealed that NewsClick had received Rs 38 crore in foreign funds. The funds lead the ED to the American millionaire. BJP has alleged that these "anti-India" forces were trying to undermine the nation and target the authority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 
The NYT report further detailed that investigations into Singham's network had highlighted the mechanism used to spread disinformation into mainstream discourse channels and how Singham's YouTube videos amplified pro-Chinese messages.

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First Published: Aug 08 2023 | 6:55 PM IST

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