Chicago City Wire

A one-time Chicago software entrepreneur is a major donor for a communist activist group funding violent street protests in Los Angeles.

Neville "Roy" Singham's "Party for Socialism and Liberation" ("PSL") printed and handed out signs used by protestors, Twitter researcher "DataRepublican" reported.

Singham, 71, funds the PSL through another pro-communist organization, the "People's Forum," according to the New York Times.

In 1993, Singham founded his company, ThinkWorks, in an office at 1440 N. Dayton Street in Lincoln Park. 

Before moving to Shanghai, he spent time living in Hyde Park (1998-2000) and Evanston (2000-2004) before moving to China.

Singham and his then-wife, Nancy Weeks Singham, also lived in a third floor apartment at 3733 N. Pine Grove Avenue, a block from Waveland Park and Lake Michigan.

Singham's sister, Shanti Singham Goodwin, lived with her husband, Dan Goodwin, at 1726 N. Hudson in Lincoln Park.

Dan Goodwin served as Chief Legal Officer of Thinkworks.

Their daughter, and Roy Singham's niece, Alicia Thilani Singham Goodwin, a self-described "queer mixed socialist activst," attended the Latin School of Chicago, then Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a B.S. in "Mathematics and Gender Studies."

She is currently an "activist and public health researcher" living in New York.

"My health research interests include gun violence prevention, alternatives to policing, gender-based violence, substance use, and the ways in which structural forces like racism and sexism impact our health," Alicia Goodwin says on her web site. "My organizing... is focused around abolition, housing, and public transit. I also love crafting and programming!"

"Singham has long held an ideological affinity with the Chinese Communist Party"

A 2022 report by New Lines Magazine alleged that Singham spent "almost $65 million" funding entities that have advocated for the Chinese government.

"Singham has long held an ideological affinity with the Chinese Communist Party, dating to his youthful membership in the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, a Mao-influenced group based in Detroit, Michigan," the report said. "After attending Howard University, Singham spent the next several years cobbling together a consulting firm for equipment-leasing companies out of a basement in Chicago. In 1993, he named his company Thoughtworks, then expanded its focus to incorporate what Singham calls “Agile” software development, which involves adaptive management, decentralized systems, and close collaboration between developers and users."

Singham sold Thoughtworks to a British private equity firm, Apax, for $785 million in 2017.

He also married "Code Pink" founder Jodie Evans in 2017.

In April, U.S. Senator Chuck Grasley (R-IA) called for Singham and Evans to register as foreign agents acting on behalf of China.

“Evidence suggests that The People’s Forum and Code Pink have been funded and influenced by... Singham and the communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principals. The evidence also suggests that The People’s Forum and Code Pink have engaged in covered political activities that directly advance the communist Chinese government’s political and policy interests," he said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).