Newsweek: Chinese-Funded Nonprofit's Channel Solicited Donations to Sanctioned Iranian Banks

A Tehran-based organization and a U.S.-registered nonprofit with deep China ties are working together, and their appeals for donations pointed supporters to sanctioned Iranian banks, according to an exclusive published today, Oct. 19, by Newsweek.

The Iranian group is the House of Latin America, known as HOLA. It was founded two decades ago to deepen ties between Iran and Latin America and is headquartered in Tehran. The U.S. group is Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a tax-exempt nonprofit.

A Chicago-based HOLA member confirmed the collaboration to Newsweek. HOLA is a regional partner of Tricontinental.

The donation appeals

Newsweek reports that in 2025, Tricontinental's Persian-language Telegram channel posted appeals for donations, and for book-sale proceeds, to be sent to two accounts at Bank Melli Iran. The accounts were in the name of Ali Abutalebi, HOLA's Chicago-based director of publications.

The Open Sanctions database lists Bank Melli as widely sanctioned, including by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The listings cite services to Iran's Ministry of Defense and moving money in and out of Iran, including for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

In February 2026, HOLA issued an appeal for Cuba donations on a Tricontinental Telegram channel. That appeal pointed to a different institution, Refah Kargaran Bank. Open Sanctions also lists that bank as sanctioned, for ties to Iran's defense establishment and for weapons procurement.

No figure for how much money, if any, moved through these accounts has been made public. Whether any transfer from the United States occurred is an open question.

Who is behind Tricontinental

Tricontinental's advisory board chairman and funder is Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. millionaire who lives in Shanghai. Newsweek describes the group as having extensive organizational and financial ties to China.

HOLA's own founding document says it works with the Iranian government, Newsweek reports. That raises the question of foreign state backing for the partner organization, though the reporting does not show Tehran directing the U.S. collaboration.

Newsweek describes the pairing as a marriage of the most influential "anti-imperialist" nonprofits tied to Iran and China in the Americas. That is the outlet's characterization, and the story presents the tie-up as newly reported.

Congress is already looking

A House committee has subpoenaed Tricontinental and is investigating its China ties. The committee's allegation is that the group used America's tax code to undermine the United States.

Jason Smith, the Missouri Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, gave Newsweek a statement. "Foreign adversaries must not be allowed to use America's tax code to undermine our country from within," he said. "Tax-exempt organizations are being used to funnel money and advance the interests of foreign powers."

Smith added: "We will follow the money wherever it leads, expose these networks, and hold those who abuse our tax laws accountable."

The subpoena is an investigative step, not a finding. The committee's claims are allegations. No charges against Tricontinental, HOLA, Singham or Abutalebi over the Telegram appeals have been described.

What the sanctions listings mean

Sanctions on a bank do not make a donation appeal a crime by themselves. The legal question for U.S. persons turns on whether funds were actually sent to, or through, those institutions and whether any license or exemption applied. That is a question for Treasury and prosecutors, not a Telegram post.

Still, a U.S. nonprofit with tax-exempt status has a hard time explaining why its public channels would direct supporters toward banks tied to Iran's defense establishment. Tax-exempt status is a federal privilege, and every American taxpayer helps underwrite it.

Tricontinental's and Singham's on-record responses to these specific appeals are not part of the reporting. Abutalebi's account details are also not independently confirmed beyond Newsweek's account.

The next concrete steps sit with Smith's committee, which has the subpoena in hand and has promised to follow the money. Treasury has not announced any action tied to the appeals.