The Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted Weidong Guan, Chief Financial Officer of the Epoch Times, the MAGAt go-to ‘news’ source for Fake News, conspiracy theories, and hate filled garbage. The indictment alleges Guan, also known as “Bill Guan,” and his associates laundered approximately $67 million in illegally obtained funds, which the indictment says was stolen from Americans’ unemployment benefits and via other schemes, between 2020 and 2024.
Practitioners of Falun Gong, a Chinese organization often described as a religious cult, launched the ‘news’ launched the publication over twenty years ago as a free propaganda newsletter to disseminate its views and counter the Chinese government’s narrative. The publication has become known for its opposition to liberal democracy, its rejection of homosexuality and feminism, and its rebukes of modern medicine, in addition to its other fringe right-wing positions.
Guan faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud, and making false statements to financial institutions. DoJ is seeking the forfeiture of any property involved in these offenses or traceable to such property, including a sum of money representing the laundered amount.
According to CNBC:
Weidong “Bill” Guan, 61, is charged in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of bank fraud.
Guan was arrested Sunday morning, and pleaded not guilty on Monday afternoon before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan, according to a court notice. He was released on a $3 million personal recognizance bond, and his travel is restricted to parts of New York and New Jersey, among other restrictions.
Guan “conspired with others to benefit himself, the media company, and its affiliates by laundering tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and other crime proceeds,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
In 2019, NBC reported the fake news source spent more than $1.5 million on about 11,000 pro-Trump advertisements, more than any organization outside of the Trump campaign itself, and more than most Democratic presidential candidates have spent on their own campaigns.
