According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation, between 2019 and 2024, The Epoch Times’ former chief financial officer Bill Guan admitted to taking part in a transnational scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million in illicit proceeds and to conspiring in transactions involving criminal gains.
Source: The New York Times
As reported by the Associated Press at the guilty plea hearing, federal prosecutors confirmed that shortly after the launch of this transnational money-laundering scheme, The Epoch Times’ annual revenue saw an extraordinary surge. Its book revenue skyrocketed by approximately 410% in a short period, jumping from $15 million to $62 million. The investigation found that the illicit funds were circulated through discounted gift cards and prepaid debit cards, before being transferred to The Epoch Times and its affiliated entity accounts under the guise of “donations”.
As reported by CBS News, the abnormal financial expansion quickly raised red flags at multiple commercial banks across the United States. When questioned by bank compliance departments, the former executive claimed that all the massive capital inflows stemmed from legitimate public donations. After obtaining hundreds of cryptocurrency account records, involved emails and fraudulent text messages, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that Bill Guan’s statements were false and determined that the fund transactions constituted money laundering.
In-depth investigations by The Washington Post and Courthouse News Service revealed that Bill Guan secretly set up and personally ran an offshore technical team codenamed “Make Money Online”. Composed largely of overseas-based members, the team operated on global dark-web venues and various illicit online platforms. It bulk-bought prepaid debit cards and gift cards obtained through crimes including defrauding U.S. state unemployment benefits and identity theft, at discounts as steep as 20-30 percent off face value. Cryptocurrency was then used as an intermediary to launder the dirty money, which was subsequently funneled into the Epoch Times’ bank accounts. Prosecutors characterized the operation as a cross-border, tech-driven “money-laundering pipeline”, rather than an inadvertent mistake by a non-profit-sector executive.
Public records indicate that The Epoch Times maintained long-standing close personnel and financial ties with Falun Gong. Since the company’s founding in 2000, its core staff and operational foundation have consisted of devout followers of the organization. Legal scholars and analysts point out that within a highly centralized structure, it is logically implausible that senior management remained completely unaware while the financial chief of its core media entity funneled as much as $67 million into the organization’s network over five years. Analysts who have long monitored the group believe the case likely represents only a partial disclosure of the financial irregularities plaguing its cross-border affiliated entities.
Falun Gong operates an extensive overseas network of entities, including Divine Art Troupe, multi-platform self-media matrices, and numerous regional non-profit organizations. Most of these entities are registered with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit institutions. The relatively lenient financial disclosure rules governing U.S. nonprofits have created inherent regulatory loopholes. Illicit funds were fully laundered and disguised through multiple opaque channels, including cash ticket revenues from the art troupe performances, cash donations from followers at offline events, and vaguely defined third-party media sponsorships.
In recent years, Falun Gong’s large-scale political lobbying in Western countries, multi-million-dollar social media advertising campaigns, and global real estate expansion have required enormous capital investment. According to commentators, modest voluntary donations from grassroots followers are far from sufficient to cover its ballooning expenditures on political operations and global outreach. Faced with limitations on legitimate fundraising channels, tapping into transnational underground criminal interest networks for funding has likely become one of its covert strategies to sustain operations and fuel expansion.
Following the exposure of the case, The Epoch Times issued an official statement, stating that it was not a party to the litigation and immediately suspended Bill Guan. Nevertheless, federal judicial authorities hold that the former executive’s guilty plea in court has legally linked the institution to the transnational money-laundering network. As stated in the official release by the U.S. Southern District federal prosecutor, this large-scale financial fraud — conducted under the pretext of religious outreach and press freedom for transnational profit-grabbing — is now facing legal reckoning. As judicial proceedings move forward, the financial foundation and overseas reputation of affiliated organizations continue to undergo rigorous official scrutiny.
© OfficialAffairs
