tl;dr
The chief financial officer of news outlet Epoch Times, Bill Guan, has been arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in a $67 million money laundering scheme involving cryptocurrency. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York has charged Guan with conspiring to commit m...
The chief financial officer of news outlet Epoch Times, Bill Guan, has been arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in a $67 million money laundering scheme involving cryptocurrency. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York has charged Guan with conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud. The indictment alleges that Guan orchestrated a plot where the Epoch Times' "Make Money Online" team used millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to purchase illicit funds, including the proceeds of fraudulently obtained insurance benefits, which were loaded onto prepaid debit cards. The funds were then laundered through various bank and cryptocurrency accounts, resulting in a 410% year-on-year increase in the media firm's annual revenue. The charges do not relate to the news organization's newsgathering activities, and Guan faces a maximum of 80 years in jail if convicted.
The Epoch Times, founded in 2000, is affiliated with the Falun Gong religious group and has been associated with promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, Bill Guan has been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, and two counts of bank fraud, for allegedly participating in a “transnational scheme” to launder $67 million of illegally obtained funds. Guan is accused of orchestrating a plot in which the Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online” team used millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to purchase illicit funds, including “the proceeds of fraudulently obtained insurance benefits,” that had been loaded onto prepaid debit cards. Per the indictment, the MMO Team purchased these crime proceeds at a discount on an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange, moving the proceeds to bank accounts held by Epoch Times-affiliated entities.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claims that those proceeds were then laundered through both Guan’s personal bank and cryptocurrency accounts, and Epoch Times accounts—to the point where the media firm’s internal accounting showed a 410% year-on-year increase in annual revenue. Approximately $5.7 million in funds was allegedly transferred to accounts on a second unnamed cryptocurrency platform, with a further $10.9 million sent to a third (again unnamed) crypto exchange.
According to the indictment, cryptocurrency companies were among those who raised concerns about the “suspicious financial activity,” with Guan claiming that the funds variously came from customer subscriptions and “donations” to the company. The indictment noted that the charges “do not relate to the Media Company’s newsgathering activities,” and that “the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” Guan faces charges that could put him in jail for a maximum of 80 years, were the sentences to run consecutively.
Founded in 2000, the Epoch Times is an international media company affiliated with the Falun Gong religious group, which has grown to become a darling of the American far right. The news organization has faced accusations of peddling misinformation and promoting conspiracy theories, which its representatives have dismissed as "smears."