(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Between the Soviet-style “block party” during the inauguration of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Times Square protests opposing the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, it may seem to some as if the Big Apple is on the verge of a socialist revolution.
But investigative journalists have revealed the Marxist upswell to be more astroturfed than organic, with a large infusion of cash coming from a former Silicon Valley tech-bro.
Within 10 minutes of the arrival of U.S. special forces in Venezuela early Saturday morning, a Marxist propaganda outfit had published images of the bombing, according to a Fox News analysis.
It was promptly reposted at 1:35 a.m. by Manolo De Los Santos, the executive director of the New York-based activist group The People’s Forum.
Explosions now shaking Caracas.
Trump has launched an illegal bombing campaign. Families, children, people sleeping in their homes across Caracas are under attack. Bombings confirmed in La Guaira, Fuerte Tiuna, La Carlota.
This is a war crime. Stop the bombing of Venezuela! pic.twitter.com/8Ic1im2goc
— Manolo De Los Santos (@manolo_realengo) January 3, 2026
Less than an hour later, word had spread of an “emergency day of action” planned for the very same afternoon, giving the organizers less than 12 hours to prepare and promote the protest.
Fortunately for them, much of the infrastructure already was in place, courtesy of benefactors like Neville Roy Singham.
Singham, who founded the IT consulting firm Thoughtworks, sold the company in 2017 for $785 million, according to an investigation by the Free Press. That same year, he became the primary funder of The People’s Forum.
The group has maintained a regular presence at far-left pop-up protests, including pro-Hamas protests in the aftermath of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of some 1,200 Israeli residents.
Additionally, Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, is cofounder of the leftist group Code Pink.
Investigations — including one by the House China Committee — have linked the Shanghai-based power couple to organized efforts by the CCP to sow chaos and push propaganda in the U.S.
“China is teaching the West that the world is better off with a dual system of both free-market adjustments and long-term planning,” Singham said in a 2008 Fortune magazine profile, in which he also praised Venezuela under former dictator Hugo Chavez as a “phenomenally democratic place.”
According to a 2025 investigation by the House Ways and Means Committee, The People’s Forum has received more than $20 million from Singham between 2017 and 2022, raising questions about its compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
“Using tax-exempt status to spread foreign propaganda while acting as a foreign agent is unacceptable and illegal,” committee chairman Jason Smith wrote in a letter to De Los Santos.
“The evidence presented in this letter makes it abundantly clear that The People’s Forum has been directly funded, as you admit, and influenced by Mr. Singham’s CCP affiliations,” Smith added.
During Saturday’s Times Square protest, independent YouTube journalist Nate Friedman confronted De Los Santos about his multimillionaire benefactor but was promptly ignored.
I crashed the paid protestor meeting for "No war with veneuzela" in NYC. This protest was completely bought and paid for, just watch. pic.twitter.com/THYpVQpHqG
— Nate Friedman (@NateFriedman97) January 3, 2026
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
