The chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, Bill Guan, is facing charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York (USAO-SDNY). He is accused of conspiring to commit money laundering and bank fraud.
According to the USAO-SDNY, Guan was involved in a transnational conspiracy with the media outlet’s foreign-based “Make Money Online” (MMO) team to launder over $67 million between 2020 and May 2024.
Under Guan’s direction, the MMO Team used cryptocurrency to purchase millions of dollars in crime proceeds, including fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits loaded onto prepaid debit cards. These proceeds were bought at discounted rates of 70 to 80 cents per dollar using a specific cryptocurrency platform.
After purchasing the crime proceeds, the MMO Team and others opened various accounts using stolen information, including bank, cryptocurrency, and prepaid debit card accounts. These accounts were used to transfer the proceeds into bank accounts associated with The Epoch Times.
The USAO-SDNY also stated that the crime proceeds were further laundered through bank accounts held by The Epoch Times, Guan’s personal bank accounts, and his personal cryptocurrency accounts.
Following a significant increase in revenues for The Epoch Times, Guan attributed the jump to an increase in donations. However, in 2022, he falsely claimed that donations were only a small portion of the company’s revenue in a letter to a congressional office.
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