Neville Roy Singham | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1954-05-13)May 13, 1954 (age 70) United States |
| Alma mater | Howard University[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, social activist |
| Known for | Thoughtworks |
| Spouse | Jodie Evans |
| Parent | Archibald Singham (father) |
Neville Roy Singham (born May 13, 1954) is an American businessman and social activist. He is the founder and former chairman ofThoughtworks, anIT 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 thepropaganda apparatus of the Chinese Communist Party and who co-own a company with a municipal government that promotes anti-poverty policies.[2][3]
Asocialist and supporter ofMaoism, according toThe New York Times, Singham has provided significant funding for media outlets, organizations and politicians around the world that promote pro-Chinese government propaganda.[4]
Singham's fatherArchibald Singham was Sri Lankan, while his mother wasCuban.[5] In his youth, Singham was a member of theLeague of Revolutionary Black Workers, aBlack nationalist–Maoist group, taking a job at aChrysler plant inDetroit in 1972 as an activist in the group.[6] He attendedHoward University before starting a consulting firm for equipment-leasing companies from hisChicago home.[6]
Singham foundedThoughtworks, a Chicago-based IT consulting company that provides custom software, software tools, and consulting services, in the late 1980s; it was incorporated in 1993.[7][8]
From 2001 to 2008, Singham was a strategic technical consultant forHuawei.[6][8]
In 2005, Thoughtworks opened up offices in China.[9]
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 includedMicrosoft,Oracle, major banks, andThe Guardian newspaper.[10] Singham owned 97% of thecommon stock of the company.[10] By 2010, its clients includedDaimler AG,Siemens andBarclays, and had opened a second headquarters inBangalore.[11]
In 2010, he opened Thoughtworks' Fifth Agile Software Development Conference inBeijing, where he spoke about his influence on Huawei.[6]
Singham sold the company toprivate equity firmApax Partners in 2017 for $785 million, by which time it had 4,500 employees across 15 countries, includingSouth Africa andUganda.[7][12] Its chief scientist,Martin Fowler, wrote that Singham had not been involved in the running of the business for some years by that time.[8]
After selling the company, he moved to China where he owns or co-owns a number of businesses based there.[9]
He started a consulting business with partners active in the Chinese Communist Party Propaganda apparatus in 2019.[3] Singham has business interests in Chinese companies in the food and consultancy markets.[6] As of 2023, his office is located in Shanghai, and is shared with theMaku Group, "whose goal is to educate foreigners about 'the miracles that China has created on the world stage'" and has been given nearly $1.8 million in funding.[13]
Singham praisedHugo Chavez, describingVenezuela under his rule as a "phenomenally democratic place." He also described his admiration forChina, 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."[10]
He is a supporter ofWikiLeaks and its founderJulian Assange, speaking in his defense at a 2011 event hosted byThe Real News Network, alongside fellow activist software businessmanPeter Thiel and former intelligence whistleblowerDaniel Ellsberg.[14] Alongside Ellsberg, he has also advocated forJeremy Hammond andAaron Swartz. Swartz was working at Thoughtworks when he committed suicide while facing prosecution by the US government.[15] Singham, a friend of Swartz, described his prosecution as part of a coordinated campaign.[16]
After the invasion of Ukraine, Singham was quietly funding efforts to opposeNATO enlargement.[17]
In July 2023, Singham "joined a Communist Party workshop" about international promotion of theChinese Communist Party.[4] According to his associates, Singham is an admirer of Maoism.[4]
In 2021, India'sEnforcement Directorate named Singham in amoney laundering case, alleging that he was the source of₹380 million ($5 million) given to Indian news sitePeople's Dispatch between 2018 and 2021, to promote a pro-Chinese narrative in the Indian media.[5][18] The funds were alleged to have passed through a network of companies and NGOs includingDelaware-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.[18][19][20][13]
According to a January 2022 report byNew Lines Magazine of theNewlines Institute, a think tank led byHassan Hassan at theFairfax University of America, Singham has donated almost $65 million to non-profit organizations, includingCode Pink, that take Beijing's side on genocide allegations.[6]
In July of 2022, the publicationNew Frame, was shut down in South Africa after having received most of its money since its 2018 launch discreetly from Singham. 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.[9]
According to a May 2023 article inThe Daily Beast, there are connections between Singham and organizations on the far-left that promote CCP talking points, includingBreakThrough News,Peoples Dispatch and other members of theInternational 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 theParty for Socialism and Liberation.[21]
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.[4] Chinese state media accounts had retweeted people and organizations in Mr. Singham's network 122 times since February 2020.[4] The non-profits distributing the funding included theUnited Community Fund,Justice and Education Fund andPeople'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 theTimes described as having "sprinkled its coverage with Chinese government talking points"; in South Africa the Nkrumah School, theSocialist Revolutionary Workers Party and theNew Frame news startup[9] (whose editor had resigned in 2022 citing its "soft coverage" of China and Russia); theBrasil de Fato newspaper in Brazil; and activist groups No Cold War, Code Pink, People's Forum, andTricontinental in the United States. In response to theTimes 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".[4]
Following the August 2023New York Times report, US senatorMarco Rubio asked theUnited States Department of Justice to open an investigation into entities related to Singham for potential violations of theForeign Agents Registration Act (FARA).[22]
TheDelhi Police also opened an investigation intoNewsClick, focused on funding by Singham and its role in pushing a pro-China narrative.[23] 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 intoNewsClick.[24][25]
Singham lives inShanghai, China.[13][6] He is married toCode Pink co-founderJodie Evans, who has become pro-China after marrying Singham in 2017.[4] Singham has also become a major donor to Code Pink, with organizations from his network providing around a quarter of the budget.[4]
His son Nathan Singham works for theTricontinental: Institute for Social Research, which he funds.[6]
His ties to the propaganda machine date back at least to 2019, when, corporate documents show, he started a consulting business with Chinese partners. Those partners are active in the propaganda apparatus, co-owning with the municipal government of Tongren a media company that promotes anti-poverty policies.