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FBI brings alleged China-linked hacker to US in rare extradition as Patel defends Italy trip
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FBI Director Kash Patel says a trip to Italy that raised questions earlier in 2026 helped set the stage for the arrest of a Chinese national accused of hacking U.S. COVID-19 research.
Xu Zewei is now in U.S. custody after what Patel described as a coordinated operation with Italian authorities, marking a rare case in which an alleged state-linked hacker has been extradited to face charges in the United States.
Xu was extradited from Italy in recent days and faces federal charges tied to a 2020–2021 cyber campaign that prosecutors say targeted sensitive research, including work related to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
Patel told Fox News Digital in an interview the bureau was able to «directly tie» Xu to China’s Ministry of State Security and its Shanghai bureau, though additional details remain classified pending declassification.
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Patel said the arrest was the result of a carefully coordinated effort with Italian authorities led by Prefect Vittorio Pisani of the Italian National Police, carried out within a narrow window before additional legal challenges could delay the suspect’s extradition.
Xu Zewei is now in U.S. custody after what FBI Director Kash Patel described as a coordinated operation with Italian authorities. (FBI )
Officials from both countries worked to ensure Xu would be in Italy, and «we created an opportunity with our partners in Italy to have him apprehended there,» Patel said.
Patel told Fox News Digital the trip, which the FBI said included meetings with Italian law enforcement and Olympic security coordination, also helped lay the groundwork for the arrest. He faced criticism at the time after being seen attending Olympic events, with questions raised about whether the travel was primarily official.
Patel described the suspect as «one of the top two cyber criminals in the world for China,» alleging he played a key role in hacking efforts aimed at American universities, immunologists and virologists during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
«We were able to bring him to Houston for prosecution, which is most of what I was doing when people said I was on vacation in Italy,» Patel said.
Xu allegedly reported to Chinese intelligence officials after compromising a U.S.-based research university in early 2020, according to the indictment, and allegedly was directed to access email accounts belonging to virologists and immunologists studying COVID-19.
Patel told Fox News Digital in an interview the bureau was able to «directly tie» Xu to China’s Ministry of State Security and its Shanghai bureau, though additional details remain classified pending declassification. (FBI)
Patel said Chinese officials sought to intervene in recent days to prevent Xu’s extradition from Italy.
Timing was critical, according to Patel, who pointed to past cases where suspected Chinese operatives were able to avoid extradition.
In one instance in 2025, he said, a Chinese national detained in Serbia was ultimately returned to China despite U.S. efforts to secure custody.
Authorities allege Xu and his co-conspirators targeted U.S.-based universities, immunologists and virologists working on COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic, gaining access to email accounts and sensitive research.
But the Justice Department has not publicly detailed the specific data allegedly exfiltrated, including whether it included proprietary vaccine formulas, clinical trial data or internal communications between researchers.
Patel said the operation was «specifically engineered at a time when our adversaries were looking to hurt us during COVID,» adding that the suspect targeted research tied to treatments and vaccines.
FBI Director Kash Patel looks on before the men’s gold medal ice hockey match between Canada and the United States at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 22, 2026. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Prosecutors also allege Xu was involved in exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, a widely used email system, as part of the broader «HAFNIUM» hacking campaign that compromised thousands of computers worldwide, including more than 12,000 organizations in the United States.
The indictment also describes how Chinese intelligence services allegedly rely on private contractors to carry out cyber operations, allowing the government to obscure its direct involvement.
Among the alleged victims was a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., where prosecutors say attackers searched email accounts for information related to U.S. policymakers and government agencies.
Xu’s alleged co-conspirator, who was also charged in the case, remains at large.
Patel declined to discuss specifics about the broader network but said China’s Ministry of State Security continues to actively target the United States through cyber operations.
«The MSS is always a target of this FBI’s. They’re always operating whether it’s to steal our classified information, our nation’s research and scientific information, or anything they can use to embarrass us or leverage against us,» Patel said. «They’re going to keep doing it.»
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Patel said the FBI has made countering Chinese espionage a top priority, pointing to a sharp increase in arrests tied to Beijing-linked activity.
«We’ve arrested more Chinese spies than any FBI before me,» he said.
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Patel signaled that efforts to identify and prosecute individuals tied to similar operations are ongoing.
«It’s a priority threat and it’s going to continue to be that way,» he said.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
kash patel, fbi, cybercrime, us, xi jinping
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Families watched in horror as a skydiving plane crashed in France moments after takeoff Sunday, killing all 11 people aboard, according to French officials.
The single-engine Pilatus PC-6 crashed shortly after taking off from the Nancy-Essey Airfield near the city of Nancy in northeastern France. Officials said the victims included five skydiving instructors, five first-time jumpers and the pilot.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said some victims’ relatives watched the aircraft fall from the sky.
«Some of the victims’ families witnessed the aircraft falling with their own eyes,» Nuñez said. «So there is tremendous emotion and an even greater psychological trauma.»
MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS
Police officer stands near the site where a skydiving plane crashed in Tomblaine northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
Meurthe-et-Moselle Prefect Yves Séguy said the aircraft suffered an apparent malfunction and «fell almost vertically,» narrowly missing a populated area after crashing roughly 300 yards from the runway.
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft banked left after takeoff before disappearing from radar less than a minute into the flight.
France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), the country’s aviation accident investigation agency, said on X that it had opened a safety investigation into the crash involving the Pilatus PC-6. The agency said four investigators and one first-response investigator were dispatched to the scene.
MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS
Forensic technicians examine a skydiving plane that crashed in Tomblaine northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
Authorities have not determined what caused the crash, and officials cautioned that it is too early to speculate while investigators examine the wreckage.
Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein called the crash «an immense shock that has plunged the Greater Nancy area into mourning» in a Facebook post, offering condolences to the victims’ families and those who witnessed the tragedy.
Forensic technicians examine a skydiving plane that crashed in Tomblaine northeastern France, killing all 11 people on board, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonin Utz)
Klein said he visited the crash site alongside regional officials and praised the «remarkable professionalism and commitment» of rescue, medical and security personnel. He also announced that Greater Nancy would open a gathering space at Marcel Picot Stadium where residents could pay their respects and show solidarity with the victims’ families.
MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS
The Meurthe-et-Moselle prefecture said it activated a public information center Sunday afternoon to assist victims’ families and said the hotline would reopen Monday morning as recovery efforts and the investigation continue.
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Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot described the crash as the country’s deadliest skydiving aviation accident in roughly three decades.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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INTERNACIONAL
DOJ launches grand jury probe into Marxist mogul Neville Roy Singham’s funding of leftist groups
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FIRST ON FOX: A federal grand jury is investigating alleged financial crimes by Neville Roy Singham, the China-based tech tycoon whose fortune has funded a sprawling network of socialist, communist and Marxist organizations across the U.S. over the last decade.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the grand jury in Manhattan has issued subpoenas as part of a probe launched by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, one of the country’s most powerful districts for federal prosecutions. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the investigation as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in the multibillion-dollar nonprofit industry.
The grand jury action follows a Fox News Digital investigation published in mid-March, documenting how Singham pumped $285 million from his base in Shanghai into a Goldman Sachs philanthropy fund and two shell corporations that then fed the money into a constellation of nonprofit organizations, media operations and activist groups pushing sectarian division, identity politics and support for socialist politicians.
The investigation is examining the movement of the money in Singham’s financial network and attempting to determine if Singham, the organizations he funded or their leaders committed wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering or other financial crimes, according to sources familiar with the matter.
HOUSE OF SINGHAM: READ FOX NEWS DIGITAL’S 5-PART INVESTIGATION
On Feb. 14, 2018, Jodie Evans, co-founder founder of CodePink, and Neville Roy Singham, founder of Thoughtworks, attend V20: The Red Party, a 20th anniversary celebration of V-Day and The Vagina Monologues, featuring a performance by playwright Eve Ensler and an after-party at Carnegie Hall in New York City. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)
Prosecutors have presented evidence to the grand jury, which has issued subpoenas seeking bank records and other financial documents from organizations in Singham’s network. Federal prosecutors use grand jury subpoenas as an investigative tool to compel the production of documents and testimony as they determine whether sufficient evidence exists to pursue criminal charges.
Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment.
Showdown with Goldman Sachs
According to sources, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to New York City earlier this year for a meeting with Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon. The men discussed the role of a Goldman Sachs philanthropic arm — GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc. — that facilitated the movement by Singham of millions of dollars into a network of U.S. nonprofits.
A Treasury Department spokesman declined to comment. A person familiar with the meeting confirmed that it occurred, saying that Bessent has regular meetings with business leaders, and declined to comment further on the substance of the meeting.
At that meeting, sources said, Bessent delivered a blunt ultimatum: Goldman Sachs could face scrutiny for alleged conspiracy in the funneling of the Singham money and urged Solomon to cooperate with federal investigators.
Like many U.S. companies, Goldman Sachs has had a long business relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, with Solomon participating in a meeting, for example, on Nov. 4, 2025, with He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs.
Solomon pledged his cooperation, according to sources.
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By mid-May, with the Southern District of New York investigation in full throttle, Solomon joined a delegation of powerful American business leaders who accompanied President Donald Trump, Bessent and other administration officials to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
On Nov. 4, 2025, He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, meets in Beijing with David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group. (Cai Yang/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)
In a five-part investigative series published earlier this year, Fox News Digital unearthed a four-minute-13-second speech in which Singham stood on a stage at the Golden Tulip Hotel on Nov. 13, 2025, for a conference of the «Global South Academic Forum,» coincidentally just days after the Goldman Sachs’ chief was in Beijing. Tricontinental Ltd., a Singham-funded nonprofit, co-sponsored the event with academic institutions administered by the Chinese Communist Party.
On stage, Singham openly supported a «new world order» promoted by Chinese President Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. During the speech, he called the United States a «fascist» nation, echoing the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party now also parroted on the streets by communist, socialist and Democratic Party activists.
WATCH THE NOVEMBER 2025 SINGHAM SPEECH:
The series revealed a 172-page report in which Singham outlined his theory of change, invoking 20th century Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s battle plan to wage a «people’s war» to spread communism. Mao was inspired by communist leaders Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
LAWMAKERS RAISE ALARM OVER NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S $278M NETWORK SPREADING CCP PROPAGANDA IN THE U.S.
Singham’s rise as a global political financier accelerated after his February 2017 marriage to Jodie Evans, the co-founder of Code Pink, a far-left activist group that has aligned itself with authoritarian regimes including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Communist Party of Cuba and the Chinese Communist Party. According to sources, Evans is also a target of the investigation, emerging as a board member in the U.S. on many of the organizations that Singham funded.
That same year, Singham sold his company, ThoughtWorks, for an estimated $785 million to a London-based private equity firm, Apax Partners. A spokeswoman for Apax Partners said the company wouldn’t disclose the names of the investors who pumped money into that sale, but sources told Fox News Digital that federal investigators are looking for potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
After that sale, Fox News Digital found, Singham began directing large sums of money into a network of organizations that now form part of a broader activist infrastructure in the United States and abroad.
In its investigation, Fox News Digital mapped 223 transactions from 2017 through 2025 that moved $591 million across five continents through 67 core groups in the Singham network. They partner with hundreds of groups worldwide, resulting in a network of about 2,000 groups, amplifying anti-U.S., pro-China messages.
Of that money, Fox News Digital established a documented $278 million flowed directly from Singham into organizations that «sow discord» in the U.S., as House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith put it earlier this year at a hearing a dynamics called «foreign malign influence.»
Following the Money
In money-laundering investigations, prosecutors typically examine three stages of alleged impropriety called «placement,» «layering» and «integration.» Placement refers to the introduction of funds into the financial system. Layering involves moving money through multiple entities or transactions to allegedly obscure its origin. Integration is the point at which the money reemerges as apparently legitimate funding, grants, payments or organizational support.
Step 1: Alleged Placement
Singham allegedly funneled $278 million from Shanghai into the United States through three key channels — the philanthropic arm of Goldman Sachs and two shell corporations that have since gone defunct.
- $164,040,000 to Mutod LLC, a now-defunct shell corporation established in 2017, based in Chicago.
- $110,376,701 to GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc., a philanthropy arm of Goldman Sachs, based in New York City.
- $3,500,000 to Likewise Conceptions LLC, a now-defunct shell corporation established in 2017, based in Crystal Lake, Ill.
Step. 2: Alleged Layering
The three entities then pumped the $278 million into six nonprofits:
- $167,540,000 to People’s Support Foundation Ltd., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established with a hotel address in 2017 in Chicago and Singham’s wife, Evans, on the board.
- $68,748,701 to Justice and Education Fund Inc., a 501(c)(3) established with a UPS Store address in 2018 in New York City with self-avowed communists, including Manola De Los Santos, on the board.
- $22,440,000 to People’s Forum Inc., a 501(c)(3) established in 2017 on W. 37th Street in New York City with Evans and De Los Santos on the board.
- $16,760,000 to Tricontinental Ltd., a 501(c)(3) established in North Hampton, Mass., in 2017 by Singham friend and fellow Marxist ideologue Vijay Prashad.
- $1,330,000 to CodePink Women For Peace, a 501(c)(3) established in 2009 in Marina Del Ray, Calif., by Singham’s wife, Evans, and her friend, Susan Medea Benjamin.
- $1,098,000 to Breakthrough BT Media Inc., a 501(c)(3) established in New York City in 2020 at the People’s Forum headquarters with longtime American communist leader Brian Becker’s son, Ben Becker, as editor-in-chief of its pro-communist propaganda outlet, Breakthrough News.
Step 3: Alleged Integration
The six nonprofits then funneled at least $223 million and other forms of support into a global network of organizations including:
- People’s Welfare Association, a 501(c)(4) established in 2019 with the address of a UPS store in Madison, Wisc., today reporting about $12 million in revenues transformed into grants to undisclosed groups around the world.
- Countless unidentified organizations in six regions around the world, including Subsaharan Africa, Central America and even North America, receiving tens of millions of dollars.
- The ANSWER Coalition, a communist organization whose Chicago address has been listed as the location of the Green Mill Restaurant, a regular haunt for 20th century gangster Al Capone, whom federal prosecutor Elliott Ness prosecuted and convicted for tax evasion.
- The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a loosely-structured organization with shared leadership from the House of Singham, like the Becker father-son duo.
FLASHBACK: INSIDE THE POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT PUT A SOCIALIST IN CHARGE OF NEW YORK CITY
Socialist New York congressional nominees Darializa Avila Chevalier (L), Claire Valdez (C) and Brad Lander. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Singham and Evans haven’t responded to repeated requests for comment from Fox News Digital. In January, Becker and De Los Santos refused to respond to questions by Fox News Digital outside the People’s Forum headquarters. Benjamin refused to respond to questions during a protest in May.
The ANSWER Coalition, Breakthrough BT Media Inc., CodePink Women for Peace, Justice and Education Fund Inc., Party for Socialism and Liberation, People’s Forum Inc., People’s Welfare Association and Tricontinental Ltd. also haven’t responded to repeated requests for comment. Representatives for Mutod Ltd. and Likewise Conceptions LLC couldn’t be located.
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