Pramila Jayapal Returns Campaign Money Of Donor Who Has Now Turned Chinese Propagandist

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, (D-WA), has refunded campaign contributions for this election cycle made by a wealthy couple who once criticized China’s human rights record, but who are now spreading Chinese government talking points, the Seattle Times reported.

Neville Roy Singham 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. He is the son of the late Archibald Wickeramaraja Singham, a Sri Lankan political scientist and historian at Brooklyn College.

In August 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.

According to the Federal Election Commission filings, Singham donated $17,800 to Japayal’s campaign, while his wife Jodie Evans, a longtime friend of Jayapal and co-founder of the feminist group Code Pink, gave $22,900.

Evans was a Democratic Party political activist who managed the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign of former California governor Jerry Brown. After being critical of China, NYT reported, she now strongly supports China and regards it as a defender of the oppressed and a model for economic growth without slavery or war.

She was married to Max Palevsky, until his passing in 2017. He was known as a member of the Malibu Mafia – a group that donated money to liberal and progressive causes and politicians.

The couple, who got married in 2017, has donated more than $40,000 to Jayapal’s campaign dating back to 2016 when she first ran for a congressional seat after the retirement of longtime Rep. Jim McDermott, the Seattle Times reported.

As of 2023, Singham is said to function out of his office in Shanghai, which 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.