FIRST ON FOX: Former Treasury senior advisor and chief speechwriter Sam Lyman says the Southern District of New York’s investigation into the finances behind the activist network tied to American Marxist businessman one of the most significant developments yet in the federal government’s scrutiny of the organization and far-left protests in the U.S.
“It’s an enormous development because it’s one of the first legal actions that’s taking a deeper look into this network, which is among the here in the United States, period,” Lyman told Fox News Digital.
Lyman was reacting to Fox News Digital’s exclusive report that U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton from the Southern District of New York has opened a grand jury investigation into the finances behind Singham’s sprawling activist network.
The former Treasury official, who now serves as head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, released a new report on Monday, first obtained by Fox News Digital, examining the Singham network’s role in organizing opposition to infrastructure and data center development across the country.
Researchers conclude that about $23.6 billion in proposed AI and data center has been delayed, scaled back or blocked in campaigns where Party for Socialism and Liberation served as “a critical mobilizer in efforts that delayed, scaled back, or blocked the proposed AI infrastructure investment.”
“What we’ve uncovered is that Neville Singham’s network, in particular the Party for Socialism and Liberation, has been boots on the ground in dozens of protests across the country targeting data centers,” Lyman said.
According to the report, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has emerged in the past decade as a key political and activist arm of the Singham network, has developed a nationwide organizing operation that has participated in 21 campaigns across 14 states opposing AI infrastructure projects.
The report documents 19 case studies involving cities and counties including: Charlotte, N.C.; Prince George’s County, Md. DeForest, Wisc.; Monterey Park, Calif.; Denver, Co.; Tucson, Ariz.; Athens, Ga.; Durham, N.C.; Madison, Wisc.; New Orleans; Cleveland and other locations.
According to the report, those campaigns resulted in 10 local data center moratoria, one permanent data center ban and four rejected or withdrawn projects. The authors note that the figure likely understates the total impact because several additional campaigns involved projects whose investment values were never publicly disclosed.
The report argues that while many residents have legitimate concerns over water use, electricity demand and land use, activists linked to the Singham network have built a sophisticated nationwide operation that amplifies those concerns through coordinated organizing, demonstrations and political pressure.
“The American is real and mostly homegrown,” the report states. “But an organized, foreign-aligned party has worked to amplify and convert genuine grievances into actions that slow or degrade America’s buildout of data centers.”
One of the report’s featured examples is Charlotte, N.C., where it says Party for Socialism and Liberation organizers canvassed neighborhoods, circulated petitions and helped organize demonstrations before the City Council unanimously approved a 150-day moratorium on new data centers. According to the report, organizers are now pushing for a permanent ban.
In Prince George’s County, Md., researchers say the Party for Socialism and Liberation chapter in Washington, D.C., helped organize town halls, canvass neighborhoods and gather more than 20,000 petition signatures opposing Lerner Enterprises’ proposed $5 billion Brightseat Tech Park. County officials later paused data center approvals
