Epoch Times Implicated in Alleged Cryptocurrency Money Laundering Scheme

Federal prosecutors say that as part of a “sprawling transnational scheme,” Guan and others used cryptocurrency to purchase products obtained through the insurance. fraud and other illegal means before transferring them to various accounts associated with Epoch Times, thereby contributing to an increase in the company's revenue by approximately 410 percent. Guan claimed the increase in revenue came from donations, the Justice Department said.

In a statement Monday, The Epoch Times said it would cooperate with the investigation and had suspended Guan until the matter was resolved.

The operation was carried out by a department under Guan called the “Make Money Online” team, prosecutors allege. The team is accused of using cryptocurrency to purchase the proceeds of crime – including “fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits” – at a price of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar.

The money was then deposited into bank accounts opened using stolen personal identifying information and transferred to accounts associated with Guan and Epoch Times, according to the Department of Justice.

Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by Chinese Americans to counter Chinese government propaganda. It has long denied any connection to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese Communist Party – but experts say the publication is favorable to the movement and reflects Falun Gong's political positions in its coverage of the Chinese government. The Washington Post reported.

Epoch Times has grown from a free newspaper in New York to a media company operating throughout the Western world and Asia in languages ​​such as English and Chinese, although it is not banned in China.

In 2019, he was banned from advertising on Facebook because of his pro-Trump ads, which the social network said violated its rules on political advertising and transparency. The newspaper opposed the ban and said it had run a “highly popular digital marketing campaign for our print newspaper subscriptions.”

An NBC News investigation that year found that the outlet spent more than $1.5 million over six months to promote thousands of pro-Trump posts, the highest amount of any organization outside of Donald Trump's official campaign. The Epoch Times said the report was “incorrect.”