According to The Block, the US Department of Justice has arrested and charged Bill Guan, the CFO of the New York-based Epoch Times, with participating in an international money laundering scheme, laundering at least $67 million of illicit funds.
According to the indictment, Guan is accused of managing Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online” (MMO) team, whose members and other associates are alleged to have purchased “tens of millions” of dollars of criminal proceeds at a discount of 70% to 80% using cryptocurrencies, including unemployment benefits obtained through fraudulent means, and depositing these funds into tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards.
After obtaining the illicit funds, MMO team members and other associates opened various accounts, including prepaid card accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and bank accounts, using stolen personal information, to transfer the criminal proceeds into bank accounts associated with Epoch Times. Once the illicit funds were transferred to these accounts, they were further laundered through other accounts owned by the media outlet, Guan’s personal bank accounts, and Guan’s personal cryptocurrency accounts. This alleged scheme started around 2020 and continued until last month.
A press release from the US Department of Justice states that the media company’s annual revenue increased by approximately 410% around the time the money laundering scheme began and ended. When questioned by banks about the source of funds, Guan falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company. US Assistant Attorney Damian Williams stated that this 61-year-old media executive is currently charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering (which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison) and two counts of bank fraud (which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison). The prosecutor’s office stated that these charges are unrelated to the media company’s news reporting activities.
According to BBC News, in a statement sent to the BBC, Epoch Times stated that the organization “intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation into the charges against Mr. Guan.” Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by a Chinese-American affiliated with the Falun Gong religious group.
