The chief financial officer of The Epoch Times has been indicted for his alleged participation in a $67 million money laundering scheme that involves the far-right newspaper.
In an indictment that was unsealed by the Southern District of New York on Monday, Bill Guan was charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud. Each count carries at least a 20-year prison sentence.
While the SDNY noted that the charges “do not relate to the Media Company’s newsgathering activities,” the indictment makes it clear that Guan’s alleged scheme “benefited a multinational media company” and included a “Make Money Online (MMO)” team that helped pad The Epoch Times’ bottom line.
“In or about 2020, the Money Laundering Scheme caused tens of millions of illicit dollars to be transferred into the Media Entities’ bank accounts. In fact, that year, the Media Company’s internal financial accounting reflected an increased annual revenue over the previous year of approximately 410 percent—from approximately $15 million to approximately $62 million,” the indictment reads. “A significant portion of this increase was attributable to the Media Company’s Foreign Office, including the MMO Team, which was managed by WEIDONG GUAN, a/k/a ‘Bill Guan,’ the defendant.”
NBC News reported last fall that the “conspiracy-fueled” outlet went from a little-known paper to “one of the country’s most successful and influential conservative news organizations” since the runup to the 2020 presidential election. Run by the religious group Falun Gong, the company was launched more than 20 years ago as a free newspaper largely opposed to the Chinese Communist Party, but in recent years has leaned into overt MAGA content and right-wing conspiracy-mongering.
“Funded through aggressive online and real-world marketing campaigns and big-money conservative donors, The Epoch Times now boasts to be the country’s fourth-largest newspaper by subscriber count. (Unlike most major newspapers, The Epoch Times isn’t audited by the two major independent collectors of circulation data,)” NBC News noted. “The nonprofit has amassed a fortune, growing its revenue by a staggering 685% in two years, to $122 million in 2021, according to the group’s most recent tax records.”
According to the indictment, the money laundering scheme allegedly began in early 2020 and involved prepaid debit cards purchased below cost on a cryptocurrency platform.
“For example, certain of the prepaid debit cards were loaded with fraudulently procured unemployment insurance benefits obtained using stolen personal identification information of U.S. residents,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams alleges in the indictment. “The crime proceeds were sold on Cryptocurrency Platform-I to affiliates of the Media Company’s Foreign Office at discounted rates of approximately 70 to 80 cents per dollar and in exchange for cryptocurrency. Once purchased, the crime proceeds were transferred to bank accounts of the Media Entities (the ‘Media Entities’ Bank Accounts’), including through multiple layered transactions designed to conceal the unlawful origins of the funds.”
Williams continues: “To execute the Money Laundering Scheme, individuals employed by or affiliated with the Media Entities, located both in the United States and overseas, used stolen personal identification information to open accounts, including prepaid debit card accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and bank accounts, that were used to transfer the crime proceeds to the Media Entities’ Bank Accounts.”
In a statement released by the Justice Department, Williams said Guan “conspired with others to benefit himself, the media company, and its affiliates by laundering tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and other crime proceeds.” He also claimed that “Guan allegedly lied repeatedly and falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company” when the banks raised questions about the funds.
According to the DOJ, Guan was arrested on Sunday morning and will make his first court appearance on Monday afternoon. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, and the prosecution was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation.
A spokesperson for The Epoch Times provided the following statement to The Daily Beast: “The Epoch Times has a guiding principle that elevates integrity in its dealings above everything else. The company intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan. 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.”
