The chief financial officer of conservative global news outlet The Epoch Times has been arrested and accused of masterminding a years-long scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds, federal prosecutors said Monday.
The “rampant” scheme — which included cryptocurrencies, tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and stolen personal information — led to a massive increase in The Epoch Times’ reported annual revenue, prosecutors alleged.
Weidong “Bill” Guan, 61, is charged in U.S. District Court in Lower Manhattan with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud.
Guan was arrested Sunday morning and pleaded not guilty before a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday afternoon, according to a court release. He was released on a $3 million personal recognizance bond and his travel is limited to parts of New York and New Jersey, among other areas.
Guan “conspired with others to benefit himself, the media company and its subsidiaries by laundering tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and other criminal proceeds,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement .
“When banks asked questions about the funds, Guan allegedly repeatedly lied and falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company,” Williams said.
The Epoch Times is not mentioned by name in the indictment. However, the nonprofit media company’s most recent tax return, filed in late 2023, lists Guan as CFO of The Epoch Times.
Prosecutors said the money laundering scheme benefited “a multinational media company headquartered in Manhattan, New York.” The Epoch Times is headquartered on West 28th St. in Manhattan.
Prosecutors allege that Guan and his co-conspirators’ scheme caused the company’s revenue to increase from “approximately $15 million to approximately $62 million” between 2019 and 2020.
The company reported program revenue of $15.5 million in 2019, according to publicly available IRS tax returns for nonprofits obtained by The Epoch Times. The following year, The Epoch Times reported tax-free income of $62.7 million.
The Epoch Times did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Guan, a resident of Secaucus, New Jersey, according to his indictment, led the Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online team” that carried out the plan to purchase “crime proceeds” and transfer them to bank accounts affiliated with the media company were.
From 2020 to 2024, the team allegedly used a crypto platform to purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds at discounted rates of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar in exchange for cryptocurrency. The criminal proceeds, which included “fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits,” were loaded onto tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, prosecutors alleged.
After purchasing the penalty proceeds, participants allegedly used stolen personal information to open various types of accounts and transfer the proceeds to bank accounts associated with the media company and affiliates.
According to prosecutors, they were often re-laundered through other accounts, including Guan’s personal bank and crypto accounts.
To conceal the illicit nature of the proceeds, Guan and his co-conspirators allegedly lied to banks and other companies about their sources.
An attorney for Guan could not immediately be reached, but a filing late Monday showed Guan had been appointed a public defender.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment further on the indictment against Guan, which was filed in late May and unsealed on Monday.
The bank fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, while the conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The allegations against Guan “do not relate to the media company’s news gathering activities,” the Justice Department noted in a news release.
NBC News and other media outlets have reported on The Epoch Times’ association with the Chinese religious group Falun Gong, which in recent years has supported former President Donald Trump as an ally in his opposition to China’s ruling Communist Party.
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2024-06-03 22:26:04
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