Chief financial officer Weidong Guan, 61, also known as Bill Guan, was arrested on one count of money laundering and two counts of bank fraud, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for the money-laundering charge and 30 years for each bank fraud charge.
06:18
‘It’s scary’: Asian cryptocurrency scams bilk tens of thousands of ‘brainwashed’ victims
‘It’s scary’: Asian cryptocurrency scams bilk tens of thousands of ‘brainwashed’ victims
“Guan and his co-conspirators made multiple false statements in response to numerous complaints and concerns raised by banks, cryptocurrency companies, and others about [Epoch Times’] suspicious financial activity,” it said. “Guan falsely stated that the increase of funds reflected ‘profit’ from the work of [the company’s] foreign office that it had ‘donated’.”
The indictment, issued by the Southern District of New York, went on to say that after the MMO team began its operations, The Epoch Times’ internal accounts showed a year-on-year jump in revenues of more than 400 per cent, to around $62 million.
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”, US attorney Damian Williams said.
“When banks raised questions about the funds, Guan allegedly lied repeatedly and falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company,” Williams added.
02:05
Printing plant of China-critic newspaper Epoch Times ransacked in Hong Kong
Printing plant of China-critic newspaper Epoch Times ransacked in Hong Kong
In a statement sent to several media outlets on Monday, the Epoch Times said it had suspended Guan “until this matter is resolved”, and that it “intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr Guan”.
The Falun Gong movement was founded on the mainland in 1992. As its followers grew and it began demanding legal recognition and the freedom to organise its activities, Beijing labelled the group a “heretical organisation” and banned it on the mainland as an “evil cult” in 1999.