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CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin publicly confirmed for the first time that her organization received an inquiry from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), seeking detailed information about about its March trip to Cuba.
The inquiry, which is often called an administrative subpoena, comes as the Trump administration signals a broad effort to increase federal scrutiny of nonprofit organizations operating in foreign-policy and activist spaces. Last October, after the murder of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to strengthen enforcement against nonprofit entities that facilitate support for political violence.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that message this week, arguing that nonprofit organizations and fiscal sponsors can’t shield themselves from legal accountability when resources, funding, organizational infrastructure or grants are used to support unlawful activity and political violence.
“We’ve made substantial progress, and I think in the weeks and months ahead, we’re going to have a lot to report,” Bessent responded to a question in the White House press gallery. He said, for example, that under new changes, the IRS will “demand that nonprofits know their grant recipients.”
FEDS SUBPOENA HASAN PIKER, MEDEA BENJAMIN OVER CUBA TRIPS
Hasan Piker, a Democratic Socialists of America member, and CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans meet in Havana, Cuba, as part of a “United Front” supporting the communist regime. (CodePink via Storyful)
“So, if a grant recipient is violent, if they are suppressing people’s rights, then you are responsible for that,” Bessent said. “I think that’s a very good first step.”
The shift reflects a growing administration focus on whether nonprofit networks are exercising sufficient oversight over the projects, activists and international campaigns they sponsor. Against that backdrop, the inquiry by the Office of Foreign Assets Control into the Cuba convoy fits within an effort by Treasury officials to examine whether activist organizations are complying with laws and other federal restrictions, such as sanctions laws.
Speaking on camera in a video promoted by a far-left media platform, BreakThrough News, Benjamin said she and political streamer Hasan Piker first learned about the query when Digital broke the news last Saturday evening that Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had launched an investigation into the financial and logistical details of CodePink’s and Piker’s trip to Cuba trip.
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Medea Benjamin (right) and Olivia DiNucci (center) of CodePink protest against the U.S. war in Iran. ( Digital)
The Office of Foreign Assets Control enforces U.S. sanctions on Cuba, which restrict Americans from engaging in many financial transactions with the communist government and require travelers and organizations to comply with licensing and record-keeping requirements for authorized activities.
“I actually didn’t get anything, and neither did Hasan Piker,” Benjamin said. “I mean, we heard this on , that there was this subpoena out, and I was going outside my front door, looking around for somebody to serve me.”
Benjamin said the inquiry arrived by email and had been sent to CodePink co-founder Jody Evans.
“It turns out that it was an email that was sent to CodePink co-founder Jody Evans, and it was so unofficial that it landed in our spam box,” Benjamin said. “So it was a letter, and it came from the Treasury Department, from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC.”
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While criticizing the manner in which the inquiry was delivered, Benjamin acknowledged that the request itself was serious because of the volume of information federal officials are seeking.
“And I don’t want to say it’s not serious. It is serious, because they are asking for all kinds of information,” Benjamin said. “And this is a kind of intimidation tactic that means we have to get a lawyer, that we have to spend a lot of staff time, a lot of energy.”
According to Benjamin, the inquiry contains roughly a dozen detailed questions about the trip and its participants.
“They’re asking about 12 very detailed questions that include things like, ‘How did you get there? Where did you stay? What did you do every hour that you were there?'” Benjamin said. “I guess we have to tell them how many hours we slept.”
Benjamin said approximately 170 people participated in the convoy and suggested the scope of the inquiry could require organizers to account for the activities of every participant.
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Hasan Piker and Jodie Evans and Neville Roy Singham (Getty Images)
“There were 170 people, so I don’t know if they want to know what every single person did every single minute of the day,” she said.
Benjamin also confirmed that organizers brought humanitarian supplies to Cuba.
“What we brought — and we brought about $600,000 worth of aid — so it’s a lot, a lot of information that they want,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin framed the inquiry as an effort to discourage Americans from traveling to Cuba or participating in humanitarian missions to the communist island, but said organizers would continue their activities despite the federal scrutiny.
“And of course, this is to make people think, ‘Uh oh, should I go to Cuba? Uh oh, should I keep doing humanitarian aid?'” Benjamin said. “And the answer to that is, yes. We can’t be intimidated. In fact, we have to use this as another reason that we’re so angry at the U.S. government and redouble our efforts.”
Meanwhile, Piker has insisted that he hasn’t received the Treasury Department query. He stirred up another set of headlines speculating that the “real goal” of the investigation is to target American Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who has pumped $285 million since 2017 into a network of groups including CodePink and BreakThrough News, allegedly spreading pro-China propaganda and sowing discord with massive anti-American street protests.
CodePink and BreakThrough News have been fixtures in those street protests, and Piker has supported them on his hours-long livestreams.
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