 In 2015, "The Intercept" published an investigative work by Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton, assisted in part by the work of independent researcher Joanne Stocker, indicating that Chu received $11,150 from the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) between January 2009 and September 2012, when the MEK was listed a Foreign Terrorist Organization.She is an advocate of the MEK.In December 2019 Chu and her brother Dean Chu donated $375,000 to the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, California.