Poonam Sharma
Zohran Mamdani, once hailed by his supporters as a champion of working-class New Yorkers, today finds himself under intense scrutiny regarding the financial and ideological forces that propelled his rapid rise. Recent investigative reports reveal upwards of $40 million from George Soros-linked philanthropic networks allegedly funneled into his campaign apparatus, raising questions about legality, transparency, and the influence of global actors on local American politics.
According to forensic reporting, Soros-affiliated charities and nonprofits orchestrated an elaborate scheme that laundered charitable dollars through tax-exempt organizations before directing them to campaign operations—activities explicitly prohibited for 501(c)(3) entities. Door-to-door canvassing, volunteer mobilization, and digital outreach were reportedly bankrolled by this pipeline, which created a de facto political machine masquerading as civic activism.
The whistleblower, Sam Antar, a convicted fraud investigator, filed eleven complaints with the IRS, providing documentation tracing the money trail from Soros foundations to Mamdani’s field operations. Antar said, “They weren’t advocating for general civic causes—they were pushing one candidate. That crosses the line.” His analysis shows that funds moved from 501(c)(3) organizations to 501(c)(4) advocacy arms, which allow more political leeway but are still barred from direct candidate support. What the whistleblower terms “systemic fraud” reveals a shadow campaign infrastructure reminiscent of New York’s Tammany Hall, now modernized with digital coordination and global funding.
White Collar Fraud, a nonprofit watchdog, estimated that this network was responsible for knocking on more than 100,000 doors, building an enormous volunteer base, and creating a model for national progressive campaigns. Federal oversight agencies, including the Justice Department and the FEC, are being urged to investigate what critics call a “parallel campaign ecosystem built on charitable deception.”
The “Mamdani Machine”
An investigation by Asra Nomani with Fox News dug deeper into what she calls the “Mamdani Machine”-a coalition of 110 organizations across the socialist networks, Muslim and South Asian advocacy groups, and Democratic Party affiliates. Nomani’s two-decade research maps Mamdani’s rise from campus activism into state politics and now to the mayoral stage, revealing a carefully choreographed alignment of ideological factions.
Many of the actors in this network have a history of anti-Israel rhetoric or alleged extremist ties, adding concerns about ideological motivations supporting the campaign. At its center are four left-wing blocs-anchored by the Democratic Socialists of America, joined by several PACs, and dozens of Muslim and South Asian organizations-which oversee the campaign’s logistics, grassroots outreach, and endorsements.
These groups, previously criticized for hosting radical speakers and espousing controversial positions, received substantial funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. Their involvement underlines a troubling intersection between global philanthropic influence and domestic political operations that challenges the assumption that local campaigns are purely grassroots initiatives.
Deep Ties, Controversial Donors
Nomani’s report also connects Mamdani’s network to donors linked to Neville Roy Singham, a billionaire with Marxist leanings and alleged anti-Israel affiliations. Further funding came from Islamic advocacy groups, such as CAIR and ICNA, both of which have been investigated in the past for extremist ties. Together, these groups pumped millions into Mamdani’s campaign, creating a “multi-layered pipeline” that tied together activism, religion, and politics.
This coalition heavily backed Mamdani’s political rise after he won a New York State Assembly seat in 2020. By 2024, these groups had coalesced into an organized, citywide election machine for Mamdani under the mayoral campaign slogan and the name of an affiliated SuperPAC, “Defend and Advance”. But despite the fact that the candidate was running in New York City, much of the money came from outside of the city-a testament to the national—not to mention international—reaches of these networks.
Election Day and Grassroots Theater
On the eve of the election, Mamdani returned to Astoria, Queens-the working-class neighborhood where his political career began-to address hundreds of volunteers. He talked to them about the historic nature of his campaign, one in which the margins have been empowered to take center stage. For supporters, it is one that has signified both political change and cultural affirmation through popular engagement from Muslim and Bangladeshi communities.
But critics contend that beneath this grassroots veneer lies a well-funded, ideologically driven apparatus aimed at reshaping city politics and consolidating Islamist influence in the garb of progressive reform. Trump, Cuomo, and Musk publicly weighed in against Mamdani, casting the race as a choice between centrist pragmatism and radical socialism. Cuomo’s campaign-which received financing from centrist Democrats, corporate donors, and real estate interests-threatened “rising taxes, falling investments, and economic chaos” in the event of a Mamdani victory.
The Implications
The coming together of foreign-linked funding, religious advocacy groups, and radical ideological networks raises serious questions about the health of democratic processes in the U.S. To critics, this case exposes how global philanthropic influence is weaponized to advance political agendas at the city level, bypassing traditional campaign finance safeguards. Investigators warn that what looks like local activism may actually be part of a coordinated strategy to expand Islamist and socialist influence, with potential long-term consequences for governance and civic cohesion. Mamdani has dismissed these reports as politically driven smears; however, the evidence—encompassing complaints filed with the IRS to financial trail analysis—speaks of a campaign at the very juncture of ideology, philanthropy, and strategic political engineering. As New York waits for the results, the race has become a cautionary tale about global money shaping local politics, raising urgent questions of transparency, legality, and the ethical limits of political philanthropy. To many observers, the story of Zohran Mamdani is no longer just about grassroots empowerment; it is about how internationally funded ideological campaigns can quietly reshape the political landscape, sometimes at the expense of democratic norms.
