According to The Block, the United States Department of Justice has arrested and charged Bill Guan, the Chief Financial Officer of New York-based “Epoch Times,” for his involvement in an international money laundering scheme that laundered at least $67 million in illegal funds.
According to the indictment, Guan is accused of overseeing the “Make Money Online” (MMO) team at Epoch Times, whose members and associates are alleged to have used cryptocurrency to purchase “tens of millions” of dollars in criminal proceeds at a discount of 70% to 80%, including unemployment benefits obtained through fraudulent means, and then deposited these funds into tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards.
After obtaining the illegal funds, MMO team members and associates used stolen personal information to open various accounts, including prepaid card accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and bank accounts, to transfer the illicit proceeds into bank accounts associated with Epoch Times. Once these funds were transferred into these accounts, they were often further laundered through other accounts owned by the media outlet, Guan’s personal bank accounts, and Guan’s personal cryptocurrency accounts. This alleged scheme began around 2020 and continued until last month.
In a press release by the US Department of Justice, it is stated that the media company’s annual revenue increased by approximately 410% before and after the start of this money laundering scheme. When questioned by banks about the source of the funds, Guan falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company. Damian Williams, the United States Attorney, stated that this 61-year-old media executive is currently charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering (carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment) and two counts of bank fraud (carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment). 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 BBC, Epoch Times stated that the organization “intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation regarding Mr. Guan’s charges.” Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by a Chinese-American affiliated with the Falun Gong religious group.
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