An executive at The Epoch Times, a right-wing media company, has been federally indicted on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and bank fraud over an alleged yearslong scheme to use cryptocurrency to launder tens of millions of illicit dollars.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced the charges Monday, accusing Epoch Times chief financial officer Weidong “Bill” Guan of participating in a scheme to launder $67 million “to benefit himself and the media company.”
Epoch Media Group, which publishes a website and a newspaper distributed in multiple languages around the world, is tied to Falun Gong, the religious movement that’s also behind the Shen Yun performance troupe and New Tang Dynasty Television. The group is known for its opposition to the Chinese Communist Party and its amplification of right-wing nationalists and conspiracy theories, including the lie that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
A former Falun Gong believer who contributed to the creation of The Epoch Times’ Australia version told NBC News in 2019 that devout Falun Gong practitioners believe former President Donald Trump “was sent by heaven to destroy the Communist Party.”
Beginning in at least 2020, according to the indictment, members of The Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online” team “used cryptocurrency to knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds” at a discount, before they and others transferred the money into accounts associated with The Epoch Times and Guan. Per the indictment, the illicit funds consisted of unemployment benefits that had been fraudulently obtained using stolen personal information of U.S. residents, among other sources.
Guan was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud. Guan, who lives in New Jersey and works at The Epoch Times’ Manhattan offices, was arrested Sunday and entered a plea of not guilty on Monday.
According to the indictment, the illicit cash made such an impact on The Epoch Times’ books that Guan and others had to lie to explain it away. In 2020 alone, proceeds from the criminal activity allegedly contributed to a 410% increase in The Epoch Times’ annual revenue, the indictment said ― from $15 million to $62 million. Millions of dollars were allegedly further transferred to Guan’s personal accounts.
In order to hide the activity, Guan and unspecified co-conspirators allegedly lied in response to concerns raised by banks, cryptocurrency companies and others, referring to the infusions of cash as “profit” from The Epoch Times’ foreign office where the “Make Money Online” team was located, or as donations from Epoch Times supporters.
In December 2020, for example, Guan responded to a bank’s concern about an increase in processing volume by explaining that it was the result of “more and more donations from our supporters because more and more people like our media,” the indictment alleges. He separately wrote to an unspecified “congressional office” that a significant portion of The Epoch Times’ revenue was “charitable donations,” something the indictment alleges he knew was a lie.
The indictment was filed under seal in late May, according to court records, and unsealed Monday. According to a record of his court appearance Monday, Guan was released on a $3 million personal recognizance bond, with his travel restricted to New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. “May speak with co-workers but not about this case,” a note on Guan’s bail form said, before instructing him to refrain from opening new financial accounts without approval.
Ariel Werner, a public defender assigned to Guan’s case, declined HuffPost’s request for comment Tuesday. In a statement, The Epoch Times said it “will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan,” and that, in the interim, “although Mr. Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved.”
