Epoch Times CFO Indicted on $67M Money Laundering Scheme

(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The chief financial officer of the Epoch Times, a publication affiliated with the Falun Gong movement in China, was indicted of charges in a scheme to launder $67 million.

Bill Guan was arrested yesterday and charged by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

According to the indictment, from 2020 through May 2024, Guan conspired with others to participate in a sprawling, transnational scheme to launder at least $67 million of illegally obtained funds to bank accounts in the name of Epoch Times, authorities said.

Under Guan’s management, members of the newspaper’s Make Money Now team used cryptocurrency to knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds, including proceeds of fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits, that had been loaded onto tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, authorities said.

The crime proceeds were generally purchased by the scheme participants, including members of the MMO Team and others working with them, using a particular cryptocurrency platform, at discounted rates of approximately 70 to 80 cents per dollar, and in exchange for cryptocurrency, authorities said.

Once the crime proceeds were purchased, the MMO team used stolen personal identification information to open accounts, including prepaid debit card accounts, cryptocurrency accounts, and bank accounts, that were used to transfer the crime proceeds into bank accounts associated with Epoch Times. After the proceeds reached those bank accounts, they were often further laundered through other bank accounts held by the Epoch Times or Guan’s personal bank and cryptocurrency account, authorities said.

The money laundering scheme helped boost the Epoch Time’s revenues by 410%, from $15 million to $62 million. When asked about the increase in transactions entering the bank accounts, Guan told two U.S.-based banks the increased funds came from donations, authorities said.

Guan is charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The charges do not relate to the Epoch Times’ newsgathering activities, authorities said.

He faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.