Roy Singham

Neville Roy Singham (born May 13, 1954) is an American businessman and social activist. He is the founder and former chairman of Thoughtworks, an IT consulting company that provides custom software, software tools, and consulting services, which he sold to a private equity firm for $785 million in 2017.

In 2019, Singham started a consulting business with partners who are active in the propaganda apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party and who co-own a company with a municipal government that promotes anti-poverty policies.

A socialist and supporter of Maoism, according to ''The New York Times'', Singham has provided significant funding for media outlets, organizations and politicians around the world that promote pro-Chinese government propaganda.

Early life

Singham's father Archibald Singham was Sri Lankan, while his mother was Cuban. In his youth, Singham was a member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Black nationalist–Maoist group, taking a job at a Chrysler plant in Detroit in 1972 as an activist in the group. He attended Howard University before starting a consulting firm for equipment-leasing companies from his Chicago home.

Career

Singham founded Thoughtworks, a Chicago-based IT consulting company that provides custom software, software tools, and consulting services, in the late 1980s; it was incorporated in 1993.

From 2001 to 2008, Singham was a strategic technical consultant for Huawei.

In 2005, Thoughtworks opened up offices in China.

By 2008, Thoughtworks employed 1,000 people and was growing at the rate of 20–30% p.a., with bases around the world. Its clients included Microsoft, Oracle, major banks, and ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Singham owned 97% of the common stock of the company. By 2010, its clients included Daimler AG, Siemens and Barclays, and had opened a second headquarters in Bangalore.

In 2010, he opened Thoughtworks' Fifth Agile Software Development Conference in Beijing, where he spoke about his influence on Huawei.

Singham sold the company to private equity firm Apax Partners in 2017 for $785 million, by which time it had 4,500 employees across 15 countries, including South Africa and Uganda. Its chief scientist, Martin Fowler, wrote that Singham had not been involved in the running of the business for some years by that time.

After selling the company, he moved to China, where he owns or co-owns a number of businesses.

He started a consulting business with partners active in the Chinese Communist Party propaganda apparatus in 2019. Singham has business interests in Chinese companies in the food and consultancy markets. As of 2023, his office in Shanghai, and is shared with the Maku Group, "whose goal is to educate foreigners about 'the miracles that China has created on the world stage'" and to which has given nearly $1.8 million funding.

Positions

Singham praised Hugo Chavez, describing Venezuela under his rule as a "phenomenally democratic place." He also described his admiration for China, where Thoughtworks had a growing operation, describing it as a model for governance: "China is teaching the West that the world is better off with a dual system of both free-market adjustments and long-term planning."

He is a supporter of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, speaking in his defense at a 2011 event hosted by ''The Real News Network'', alongside fellow activist software businessman Peter Thiel and former intelligence whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. Alongside Ellsberg, he has also advocated for hackers such as Jeremy Hammond and Aaron Swartz, who worked for him at Thoughtworks when he committed suicide while facing prosecution by the US government. Singham, a friend of Swartz, described his prosecution as part of a coordinated campaign.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Singham was quietly funding efforts to oppose NATO enlargement.

In July 2023, Singham "joined a Communist Party workshop" about international promotion of the Chinese Communist Party. According to his associates, Singham is an admirer of Maoism.

Singham funded The People's Forum, a US nonprofit group in New York City that has been associated with organizing the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.

Funding network and allegations of Chinese government links

In 2021, India's Enforcement Directorate named Singham in a money laundering case, alleging that he was the source of ( $5 million) given to Indian news site ''People's Dispatch'' between 2018 and 2021, to promote a pro-Chinese narrative in the Indian media. The funds were alleged to have passed through a network of companies and NGOs including Delaware-based Worldwide Media Holdings (allegedly owned by Singham), and the Justice and Education Fund, GSPAN LLC and the Tricontinental Institute (which allegedly shared the same address) in the US, and Centro Popular de Mídias, Brazil.

According to a January 2022 report by ''New Lines Magazine'' of the Newlines Institute, a think tank led by Hassan Hassan at the Fairfax University of America, Singham has donated almost $65 million to non-profit organizations, including Code Pink, that take Beijing's side on genocide allegations.

In July 2022, the South African publication ''New Frame'' shut down, after having discreetly received most of its money from Singham since its 2018 launch. The staff wanted to keep raising money to continue the project, with some suspecting that it was the only publication not have fallen into line ideologically with the rest of Singham's network of outlets.

According to a May 2023 article in ''The Daily Beast'', there are connections between Singham and organizations on the far-left that promote CCP talking points, including BreakThrough News, Peoples Dispatch and other members of the International People's Media Network. The article said there were overlapping personnel at a number of these organizations and media outlets without actual office locations. The article said some members of BreakThrough News' leadership are affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

In August 2023, ''The New York Times'' reported that Singham works closely with the Chinese government and state media, and donates to various groups, news organizations and entities through non-profit groups and shell companies which spread pro-Chinese government messages. Chinese state media accounts had retweeted people and organizations in Mr. Singham's network 122 times since February 2020. The non-profits distributing the funding included the United Community Fund, Justice and Education Fund and People's Support Foundation, have addresses at UPS store mailboxes in Illinois, Wisconsin and New York, and headed by Jodie Evans or former ThoughtWorks employees. Funded groups include: an Indian-based independent news site, NewsClick, that the ''Times'' described as having "sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points"; in South Africa the Nkrumah School, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party and the ''New Frame'' news startup (whose editor had resigned in 2022 citing its "soft coverage" of China and Russia); the '' Brasil de Fato'' newspaper in Brazil; and activist groups No Cold War, Code Pink, People's Forum, and ''Tricontinental'' in the United States. In response to the ''Times'' report, Singham said that he was not a "member of, work for, take orders from, or follow instructions of any political party or government or their representatives".

Following the August 2023 ''New York Times report'', US senator Marco Rubio asked the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into entities related to Singham for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

The Delhi Police also opened an investigation into ''NewsClick'', focused on funding by Singham and its role in pushing a pro-China narrative. The police allege that "Email communications between Singham, Vijay Prashad, Prabir and their associates established that Singham was actively pursuing the China line on Covid-19, despite mounting criticism of the same from the international community. Singham is seen clearly nudging Prabir and the PPK NewsClick team to peddle the Chinese version…" It also accused Singham and his associates with creating a web of organizations to funnel money into ''NewsClick''.

Personal life

Singham lives in Shanghai, China. He is married to Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans, who has become pro-China after marrying Singham in 2017. Singham has also become a major donor to Code Pink, with organizations from his network providing around a quarter of the budget.

His son Nathan Singham works for the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, which he funds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singham, Neville Roy
1954 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Illinois
Place of birth missing (living people)
American computer businesspeople
American people of Sri Lankan descent
Howard University alumni
American Maoists
American people of Cuban descent
American expatriates in China