DOJ, Treasury investigate nonprofits and leaders allegedly coordinating with Cuba in influence campaign./Feds subpoena Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin over Cuba trips. Fox News.
DOJ, Treasury investigate nonprofits and leaders allegedly coordinating with Cuba in influence campaign
By Asra Q. Nomani By Asra Q. Nomani
Fox News
May 23, 2026
By Asra Q. Nomani By Asra Q. Nomani
Fox News
May 23, 2026
Fox News Digital has identified 145 groups, with $1B in revenues, backing communist Cuba with coaching from Cuban officials
This article is Part I of a Fox News Digital investigative series examining allegations that the communist government of Cuba built an influence network inside the United States that federal authorities are now investigating. Part I focuses on the network's rapid response following the indictment of Cuban leader RaĂșl Castro.
Just nine minutes after U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced murder charges against Cuban leader RaĂșl Castro for the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft flown by exile group Brothers to the Rescue, a coordinated rapid response network was already mobilizing across the U.S. to defend Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba.
At 1:54 p.m. on Wednesday, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist political organization deeply embedded in a "Hands Off Cuba" campaign, published six pre-produced graphics denouncing the indictment as a "BASELESS INDICTMENT OF RAUL CASTRO" and "A PRETEXT FOR ANOTHER WAR."
Hours later, at 3:18 a.m. early Thursday morning, Vijay Prashad, executive director at Tricontinental, a Marxist think tank, wrote on X, "Cuba is not a menace to the world. The United States is a menace to the world. The world stands with RaĂșl Castro, hero of the Cuban Revolution. The world turns its back on Donald Trump, clown of human destruction."
Manolo De Los Santos, executive director of the People's Forum, a New York-based nonprofit, shared the message without a word, as did leaders from CodePink, another leftist organization.
Then, 24 hours after Blanche's announcement, at 1:46 p.m. on Thursday, BreakThrough News, a media platform aligned with the same activist ecosystem, published a video featuring defiant Cubans, with one man declaring, "We won't hand over RaĂșl."
Fox News Digital has learned that Justice and Treasury Department officials are investigating U.S. nonprofits and activist groups for allegedly coordinating lobbying, messaging, fundraising, delegations and political organizing efforts with Cuban government officials as part of a possible foreign influence campaign operating inside the United States.
A Fox News Digital investigation has identified 145 nonprofits, labor groups, advocacy organizations and activist collectives across the U.S. that are mobilizing in support of the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba. Together, the organizations report about $1 billion in combined annual revenue.
To U.S. national security officials examining the influence of foreign governments in the U.S., the rapid-response messaging campaign offers a striking example of how quickly the nationwide Cuba "solidarity" infrastructure synchronizes political messaging across nonprofits, media platforms, labor organizations and activist coalitions following major geopolitical developments involving the Cuban regime.
Making the alleged influence campaign even more complicated, the ANSWER Coalition, Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News, CodePink, People's Forum and Tricontinental are all part of a network funded by American expatriate tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai, supporting the Chinese Communist Party and its global agenda, including its defense of the communist regime in Cuba.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokeswoman for the Embassy of Cuba in Washington denied any improper activity and said the country's diplomats operate within the bounds of the Vienna Convention, where Article 41 states that diplomats "have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs" of a state.
"Cuban diplomats strictly comply with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the embassy spokeswoman said, noting that "part of diplomatic work" is to "promote friendly relations" and "interact with organizations and institutions of civil society in the State to which one is accredited."
The embassy added that "it is neither extraordinary, nor a violation of any international or U.S. law, for Cuban diplomats to engage with civil society," adding it doesn't encourage Americans "to overthrow or act against the constitutional order of the United States."
Sources familiar with the probe said investigators are also examining the activities of several prominent activists and organizers connected to the Cuba solidarity movement, including Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and CodePink D.C. coordinator Olivia DiNucci.
Federal investigators are also probing about 40 Americans who allegedly coordinated with Cuban government officials to bring goods and supplies to Cuba in "convoys" and "flotillas" earlier this year, sources told Fox News Digital.
The organizations under scrutiny span labor unions, activist nonprofits, solidarity campaigns, travel networks, socialist political groups and media operations.
The pro-communist Cuba ecosystem includes seven clear communities:
Singham network: ANSWER Coalition; BreakThrough News; CodePink; International Peopleâs Assembly and its affiliates; Liberation News and Party for Socialism and Liberation; Peopleâs Forum and its fiscally-sponsored projects, Venceremos Brigade and Hatuey Project; Tricontinental Institute; IFCO and its Pastors for Peace project,
Labor unions and labor activists: AFL-CIO-affiliated organizers, International Association of Machinists Local 1484, Labor/Community Strategy Center, Service Employees International Union, Teamsters tied to Amazon labor campaigns, United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 36
Cuba travel brigades, convoys and delegations: Activist flotilla and humanitarian caravan organizers; Global Exchange; Hands Off Cuba Committees; National Network on Cuba; Nuestra América Convoy organizers
Socialist, Marxist, Communist organizations: African Peopleâs Socialist Party, Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America, Peace and Freedom Party, Socialist Unity Party, Socialist Workers Party
Media and propaganda ecosystem: activist social media amplification campaigns, anti-imperialist podcasts and livestream networks, BreakThrough News, BT News, Liberation News, Tricontinental
Legal, academic and institutional networks: National Lawyers Guild; church and faith-based solidarity organizations, educational outreach organizers working in schools and campuses, , professors tied to Cuba delegations and anti-sanctions campaigns, university-based Cuba solidarity groups
Humanitarian and aid infrastructure: agricultural solidarity campaigns, Global Health Partners, medical supply campaigns, "people-to-people" exchange organizers, solar panel fundraising drives
Investigators are also scrutinizing travel and delegation infrastructure tied to the network, including organizations coordinating labor trips, educational exchanges, people-to-people tours, activist brigades and humanitarian convoys to Cuba.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Americans who engage in political activities in the United States at the direction or control of a foreign government may be required to register with the Justice Department. Advocacy itself is protected under the First Amendment, and registration under FARA doesn't prohibit political activity. Investigators are examining whether any organizations crossed the line from independent activism into coordinated activity directed by Cuban government officials.
Investigators are examining whether some organizations and activists are coordinating lobbying, messaging, delegations, fundraising and political organizing efforts with Cuban government officials without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
The Treasury Departmentâs Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, enforces the decades-old U.S. sanctions regime against Cuba, including restrictions on financial transactions, material support, shipping and the transfer of goods and services to the island.
While humanitarian exemptions and licensed travel categories exist, investigators are examining whether some activists and nonprofit groups coordinated shipments, fundraising, "convoys," flotillas and aid campaigns in ways that may have violated sanctions regulations or evaded reporting requirements.
Investigators are also scrutinizing whether organizations used intermediary nonprofits, fiscally sponsored projects or generic donation language in ways that obscured Cuba-related transactions that otherwise could have triggered additional compliance scrutiny under OFAC regulations.
One fundraising page soliciting solar panel donations for Cuba instructed donors, "Please do not write âCubaâ in donation comments or on the memo line of checks. Simply write âUrgent Aid.â"
"Cuba is 100% operating a foreign influence operation in the U.S.," said Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, a Cuban-born author who has written extensively on communist influence operations in Latin America.
He described Cuba as "ground zero for anti-American revolutionary organizing in the Western Hemisphere."
Gonzalez told Fox News Digital, "Cuba is a prep school for revolutionaries."
"The Cuban regime has spent decades building influence networks inside universities, labor groups, activist nonprofits, churches and solidarity organizations in the U.S.," Gonzalez said. "The key question for investigators is whether these organizations crossed the line from protected activism into coordinated political activity directed by a foreign government."
Cuba travel brigades, convoys and delegations: Activist flotilla and humanitarian caravan organizers; Global Exchange; Hands Off Cuba Committees; National Network on Cuba; Nuestra América Convoy organizers
Socialist, Marxist, Communist organizations: African Peopleâs Socialist Party, Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America, Peace and Freedom Party, Socialist Unity Party, Socialist Workers Party
Media and propaganda ecosystem: activist social media amplification campaigns, anti-imperialist podcasts and livestream networks, BreakThrough News, BT News, Liberation News, Tricontinental
Legal, academic and institutional networks: National Lawyers Guild; church and faith-based solidarity organizations, educational outreach organizers working in schools and campuses, , professors tied to Cuba delegations and anti-sanctions campaigns, university-based Cuba solidarity groups
Humanitarian and aid infrastructure: agricultural solidarity campaigns, Global Health Partners, medical supply campaigns, "people-to-people" exchange organizers, solar panel fundraising drives
Investigators are also scrutinizing travel and delegation infrastructure tied to the network, including organizations coordinating labor trips, educational exchanges, people-to-people tours, activist brigades and humanitarian convoys to Cuba.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Americans who engage in political activities in the United States at the direction or control of a foreign government may be required to register with the Justice Department. Advocacy itself is protected under the First Amendment, and registration under FARA doesn't prohibit political activity. Investigators are examining whether any organizations crossed the line from independent activism into coordinated activity directed by Cuban government officials.
Investigators are examining whether some organizations and activists are coordinating lobbying, messaging, delegations, fundraising and political organizing efforts with Cuban government officials without registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.
The Treasury Departmentâs Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, enforces the decades-old U.S. sanctions regime against Cuba, including restrictions on financial transactions, material support, shipping and the transfer of goods and services to the island.
While humanitarian exemptions and licensed travel categories exist, investigators are examining whether some activists and nonprofit groups coordinated shipments, fundraising, "convoys," flotillas and aid campaigns in ways that may have violated sanctions regulations or evaded reporting requirements.
Investigators are also scrutinizing whether organizations used intermediary nonprofits, fiscally sponsored projects or generic donation language in ways that obscured Cuba-related transactions that otherwise could have triggered additional compliance scrutiny under OFAC regulations.
One fundraising page soliciting solar panel donations for Cuba instructed donors, "Please do not write âCubaâ in donation comments or on the memo line of checks. Simply write âUrgent Aid.â"
"Cuba is 100% operating a foreign influence operation in the U.S.," said Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, a Cuban-born author who has written extensively on communist influence operations in Latin America.
He described Cuba as "ground zero for anti-American revolutionary organizing in the Western Hemisphere."
Gonzalez told Fox News Digital, "Cuba is a prep school for revolutionaries."
"The Cuban regime has spent decades building influence networks inside universities, labor groups, activist nonprofits, churches and solidarity organizations in the U.S.," Gonzalez said. "The key question for investigators is whether these organizations crossed the line from protected activism into coordinated political activity directed by a foreign government."
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Feds subpoena Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin over Cuba trips
By Asra Q. Nomani By Asra Q. Nomani
Fox News
By Asra Q. Nomani By Asra Q. Nomani
Fox News
May 23, 2026
Investigation part of broader dragnet involving as many as 40 American citizens who joined Marxist convoy to Havana
Federal officials have served subpoenas to Marxist political influencer Hasan Piker and CodePink cofounder Susan Medea Benjamin as part of a wider investigation into whether U.S. organizations and leaders violated U.S. laws and sanctions in supporting Cuba's communist regime, Fox News Digital has learned.
Piker and Benjamin are among those caught in a federal inquiry into whether activists who traveled to Cuba in March violated U.S. sanctions laws through the financing, coordination or delivery of goods to Cuba, including potential contacts with Cuban government personnel or entities on the island. The administrative subpoenas were sent to the pair by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control
The administrative subpoenas â called "Requests for Information," or RFI â seek financial, logistical and communications information revolving around trips the two widely bragged about making to the island nation in March with delegations of the "Nuestra AmĂ©rica Convoy," or "Our America Convoy," from a global network of communist sympathizers, activists and influencers who brought supplies to the country's ruling Communist Party of Cuba, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The investigation is part of a broader effort by officials at Treasury, State and Justice departments to curb malign foreign influence operations inside the United States, particularly activities tied to support for political violence, extremist movements or acts the U.S. government classifies as terrorism. The scrutiny reflects growing concern among federal authorities and lawmakers over whether foreign actors and aligned organizations are attempting to shape American political discourse, mobilize activists, sow discord and normalize rhetoric that could encourage violence or undermine U.S. national security interests.
According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham has pumped $278 million into nonprofit groups that have pushed pro-China, pro-Cuba, anti-U.S. narratives and street protests for almost a decade, since his marriage in February 2017 to CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, who is also being investigated for her role in the March trip. CodePink received $1.33 million from Singham after he married Evans.
In mid-March, organizations in the Singham network â from the Venceremos Brigade to People's Forum, a hub for communist causes in New York City â were leaders of the Nuestra American Convoy, which included an estimated 650 delegates from 33 countries and 120 organizations. The organizations included Democratic Socialists of America, a U.S. nonprofit that promotes Piker as a headline member.
The investigation by the Office of Foreign Assets Control is part of a broader dragnet that includes as many as 40 American citizens who joined foreign nationals, including a controversial Brazil activist, Thiago Avila, who are part of a global network of anti-U.S. Marxists, communists and socialists. Additional subpoenas are expected.
The administrative subpoenas mark a serious escalation by the Trump administration against a far-left nonprofit activist network that has spent years defending communist regimes, from Cuba to China, while presenting its work as humanitarian aid, anti-war organizing and "solidarity" with people "oppressed" by the "imperialist" U.S "colonial power."
As reported, a Fox News Digital investigation has identified 145 U.S. nonprofits and activist groups with $1 billion in collective revenues that Justice and Treasury Department officials are investigating as part of a wider influence campaign by Cuba's communist regime and other foreign actors. According to public statements, it's believed that delegation members stayed at a hotel the U.S. State Department has put on a "Cuba Restricted List," as businesses directly tied to the communist government of Cuba, designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
U.S. law imposes broad restrictions on financial transactions involving Cuba, primarily through the "Cuban Asset Control Regulations," administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Those rules generally prohibit unlicensed travel-related transactions and the export of goods or services to Cuba, with limited exceptions for journalism, humanitarian projects, educational programs and certain activities meant to support the Cuban people.
Hasan Piker, one of the most influential political streamers on Twitch, has built a massive online following with a mix of Marxist politics, anti-American commentary and inflammatory statements that have repeatedly drawn public backlash.
On March 10, Piker posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the message: "I'M GOING TO CUBA."
In an Instagram post from the trip, Singham's wife, Evans, smiled widely in Havana, wearing a red-and-white Palestinian scarf, or kefiyyeh, around her neck, while standing beside Piker, who looked seriously into the camera.
On a livestream this week, Piker said that the Justice Department's indictment of Cuban leader RaĂșl Castro is a "sham" with "no legal standing," designed to create a pretext for escalating U.S. pressure on the island. Piker argued that Trump is acting like a "playground bully."
Fox News Digital recently observed Piker outside his Los Angeles home escorting his dog, Kaya, outside the house for a bathroom break early one morning. Kaya, a large-breed dog that is a mix of Tibetan Mastiff, Chow Chow, and St. Bernard, has been the beloved subject of an online campaign, dubbed "Free Kaya," over allegations Piker trained Kaya with a shock collar that transmits painful stimuli as part of behavior training. At one moment, Piker silently stood over Kaya and gestured with a finger for her to return to the house after relieving herself. Later, Kaya was observed being walked and driven by a woman leaving Piker's home.
Benjamin has made her mark as an activist gadfly who stages media spectacles at Congressional hearings, defense industry trade conferences and the homes of government officials, yelling invectives, chants and slogans, branding herself as "anti-war," but actually running a pattern of messages denouncing the U.S. and uplifting communist and authoritarian regimes from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of Cuba.
Fox News Digital recently observed Benjamin outside her colorful home in Washington, D.C., with her partner and fellow activist Tighe Barry, who accompanied her on the trip to Havana.
Piker has been criticized for saying that "America deserved 9/11," a remark he later said was poorly phrased, and for past comments about former Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy SEAL veteran who lost an eye in Afghanistan. More recently, critics, including Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., have accused Piker of amplifying anti-Semitic rhetoric after Oct. 7, while Piker has denied antisemitism and said his criticism is aimed at Israel, not Jews.
The larger group under scrutiny includes Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., according to sources, with investigators examining whether Omar may have funded her daughterâs travel to Cuba. Omar didn't respond to an earlier request for comment about her daughter's trip.
Piker, Benjamin, Singham, Evans and CodePink didn't respond to requests for comment.
According to sources, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is also investigating CodePink's DC Coordinator, Olivia DiNucci, a former Division I basketball star from Emerson College in Boston. Her unassuming, girl-next-door persona often gains her entry into coveted spaces that she then disrupts with loud theatrics. She joined a convoy led by the Brazilian activist, Avila.
Federal investigators are examining whether the caravanâs financing, logistics, coordination or delivery of goods crossed legal lines under U.S. sanctions law, sources said.
Legal experts told Fox News Digital that the subpoenas could determine whether prosecutors pursue a criminal case under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as IEEPA, or whether the matter remains a civil enforcement issue handled by the Treasury Departmentâs Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers U.S. sanctions programs.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control can impose civil penalties under a "strict liability" standard, meaning the government does not have to prove intent. The Justice Department, by contrast, generally must show that a defendant willfully violated the law in a criminal case, often through evidence of concealment, evasion or knowing participation in prohibited transactions.
In a long livestream on Saturday, Piker interviewed another influencer, Ashley St. Clair, about having a baby with billionaire Elon Musk, railed against Trump, defended the communist leaders of Cuba and free-associated about other topics in the news, including a shooting outside the White House, decrying the chaos in America. "It's f@*&ing terrifying," he said.
