Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Fifth Column

CCP-Linked Billionaire Neville Singham ‘Literally Hiding' from Congress, Faces Asset Freeze Push

2025-07-10

[Breitbart] Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is escalating efforts to hold billionaire Neville Roy Singham accountable, urging the State and Treasury Departments to freeze his assets and visa as he evades a congressional investigation into his alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and far-left extremist groups.
Neville Roy Singham is married to Jodie Evans, who is a co-founder of the women's anti-war activist organization Code Pink
Luna announced the move in a post on X, claiming that Singham is refusing to respond to the committee’s letter. “Neville Singham—the billionaire communist with ties to the CCP, who funded the LA riots and used immigration & Mexicans as a Trojan horse for communism—is hiding from our letter requesting testimony,” she wrote. “Therefore, if he decides to hide in CHINA, we will now be asking the State Dept. and Treasury to freeze his assets/visa.”

Luna’s latest warning follows a June 13 letter from the House Oversight Committee to Singham requesting documents and testimony related to his alleged funding of extremist groups including the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the People’s Forum, and the ANSWER Coalition, all of which are accused of promoting civil unrest and echoing Chinese government propaganda. Every Republican member of the committee signed on to the inquiry.

While Senate Republicans, including Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, sounded the alarm on Singham’s activities last year, the Biden administration did not act. Luna has sharply criticized that inaction, contrasting it with President Trump’s deployment of federal forces to respond to the unrest in Los Angeles. She has described Neville Singham as a Marxist and George Soros as a globalist, arguing that both are working to destabilize the West and undermine Trump’s efforts

The committee warned that Singham’s actions may violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and other federal laws, particularly if he is acting “at the behest of a foreign principal” to influence American public opinion or policy.

“Reportedly, you have supported these groups with the aim of causing destruction and division in our country,” the letter to Singham stated. It cited recent riots and violence in Los Angeles, which the committee said prompted President Trump to deploy the National Guard.

According to the committee, Singham’s support for far-left groups extends back decades and includes millions of dollars funneled through dark money nonprofits with virtually no public footprints. Nonprofit filings show nearly $1.8 million flowed from entities the committee identifies as part of Singham’s network to Maku Group, a Chinese media company whose offices prominently display a banner reading “Always Follow the Party” beneath an image of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The letter also cites reporting from the New York Times, which found Singham resides in the People’s Republic of China and has supported groups that “mix progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.” In 2019, he reportedly launched a consulting firm with Chinese partners “active in the propaganda apparatus” of the CCP.

The Oversight Committee’s letter warns that Singham’s suspected funding of the PSL and affiliated groups may be part of a broader CCP strategy known as the “Strategy of Sowing Discord,” a long-documented tactic of provoking internal strife within foreign adversaries. The letter underscores that if Singham is carrying out such a campaign on behalf of Beijing, he may be required to register under FARA.

Singham’s influence reportedly extends to groups tied to radical antisemitic movements, including Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P), which was formed in 2023. According to the Network Contagion Research Institute, “Conveners” operating under the SID4P umbrella are listed as part of Singham’s donor portfolio. The House Oversight Committee noted that some of these organizations have ties to U.S.-designated foreign terrorist groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

One such SID4P “endorser,” Samidoun, has been identified in open-source reporting as a front for the PFLP. The Oversight Committee is now seeking a briefing from Attorney General Pam Bondi on whether organizations funded by Singham may have violated FARA or acted on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party in connection with the recent unrest in Los Angeles.

In a separate letter to Bondi, the Committee listed nineteen groups under investigation for potential ties to Singham and the CCP, including Code Pink, the People’s Forum, Dongsheng News, BreakThrough Media, and the National Students for Justice in Palestine.

The House Oversight Committee, under its authority in House Rule X, continues to demand full compliance from Singham and is working to ensure the American people are informed about foreign influence operations that threaten national security.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

China 'is preparing to launch industrial-scale forced organ harvesting', as Beijing reveals plans to triple number of transplant facilities in province home to Uyghur Muslims

2025-07-06

Totalitarian governments do things like that. It’s a profit center at a time when thr government desperately needs improved cash flow in the face of Trumpian tariffs and other painful measures.

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] China is preparing to dramatically scale up forced organ donations from Uyghur Muslims and other persecuted minorities, rights groups have claimed.

A statement published in December 2024 by China's National Health Commission announced plans to triple the number of medical facilities capable of performing organ transplants in the Xinjiang region, home to the vast majority of Uyghurs in the country.

Six new transplant institutions are due to be built by the end of the decade, bringing the region's total to nine, according to the Plan for the Establishment of Human Organ Transplant Hospitals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (2024–2030), issued by Chinese authorities.

The expanded facilities will reportedly be authorised to perform transplants of all major organs, including hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys and pancreas.

But official figures show Xinjiang's voluntary organ donation rate stands at just 0.69 donors per million people – less than one-sixth of the national average of 4.6.

The move has prompted warnings from rights campaigners and international human rights experts who say the planned expansion aims to fuel industrial-scale organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.

'This massive expansion in Xinjiang, a region already under scrutiny for systematic repression, raises deeply troubling questions about where the organs will come from,' said Professor Wendy Rogers, Chair of the Advisory Board at the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC).

'There is simply no justification for such growth in transplant capacity given the region's official organ donation rate, which is far below the national average.'

Beijing has repeatedly denied accusations by human rights researchers and scholars that it forcibly takes organs from prisoners of conscience.

The planned expansion outlined by the National Health Commission includes facilities across northern, southern and eastern Xinjiang, including in the capital Urumqi.

Of the nine total hospitals set to be operational by 2030, seven will perform heart transplants, five will offer lung transplants, four will carry out liver operations, and five will conduct kidney and pancreas procedures.

Critics say this network will far outpace the needs of the region's population, suggesting that the only reasonable explanation is that authorities are planning to forcibly harvest organs from detainees.

It is estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 transplants are conducted in China each year - vastly more than the country's official donation system can support.

Since 2006, practitioners of the Buddhist practice of Falun Gong have been the primary victim group of forced organ harvesting, with the Uyghur population now thought to be at risk.

MailOnline previously covered the nightmarish story of Cheng Pei Ming, a rural villager and Falun Gong practitioner from China's Shandong Province, who endured unimaginable suffering from forced organ transplants before eventually escaping and making his way to the United States.

Although China claimed in 2015 to have ceased using organs from executed prisoners, no legal reforms accompanied the announcement, and harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience was never explicitly outlawed.

Meanwhile, Uyghur Muslims held in Chinese detention camps have reported undergoing blood tests, ultrasounds and other organ-focused medical scans, procedures consistent with assessing organ compatibility.

'The concept of informed, voluntary consent is meaningless in Xinjiang's carceral environment,' said David Matas, a veteran human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee who has investigated forced organ harvesting in China for nearly two decades.

'Given the systemic repression, any claim that donations are voluntary should be treated with the utmost scepticism.

'The lack of legal safeguards, the history of abuse, and the ongoing repression in Xinjiang all point to the urgent need for independent scrutiny of this transplant expansion,' added Dr Maya Mitalipova, a geneticist who has testified before the US Congress about reverse organ matching techniques and biometric surveillance in China.

'This could be industrial-scale organ harvesting under a state-controlled system.'

The United Nations and several democratic governments have repeatedly voiced concern over credible reports of forced organ harvesting and systemic repression of Uyghurs, Falun Gong practitioners, and other minority groups in China.

In June 2021, 12 UN special rapporteurs and human rights experts raised the alarm over allegations that minorities in Chinese detention were subjected to blood tests and organ scans without consent.

Their findings suggested that results were entered into a national database used to allocate organs.

Link

Fifth Column

Mahmoud Khalil resumes his activism, appears at NYC rally slamming Iran strikes, backing Palestinians

2025-06-23

[IsraelTimes] Mahmoud Khalil

…at age 30 the Damascus-born Palestinian (with dual Algerian citizenship through his mother, whose family were revolutionaries back home) got a Masters in Paleo Protest from Columbia, applying his training as Apartheid Divest’s frontman supporting Hamas since 10/8/2023, which overlapped his work as a UNWRA political affairs officer. Since his first arrest by ICE he’s been represented by 19 attorneys, including CUNY law prof Ramzi Kassem, himself a Paleo student activist at Columbia back in the day, and the ACLU. The case is now wending its way up to the US Supreme Court, where it will no doubt set some interesting legal precedents, possibly even Constitutional. Mr. Khalil worked his way through college in Beirut as a popular, MI-6 vetted local staffer at the British embassy leading soft power projects, on one of which he worked with his future wife — Leb-American dentist Noor Abdalla, who interestingly is a hijabi, suggesting either Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah connections. No doubt it was for her sake he went to Columbia instead of Oxford…

resumes his pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism at a New York City rally that also decries the US strikes on Iran, days after he was released on bail from a jail for immigrants and even as US President Donald Trump’s administration says it will continue its efforts to deport the recent Columbia University graduate.
People’s Forum

The pro-Iran protest quickly morphed into a “Welcome Home, Mahmoud” rally on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Among those clustered near the cathedral doors were some familiar faces—Professor Rashid Khalidi and a mix of radical activist leaders. pic.twitter.com/GNcCVtR7E6
— Stu (@thestustustudio) June 22, 2025

Link

Fifth Column

US Judge orders Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from detention

2025-06-21

[IsraelTimes] Khalil was the first arrest under Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel

A federal judge on Friday ordered the US government to free former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil

…at age 30 the Damascus-born Palestinian (with dual Algerian citizenship through his mother, whose family were revolutionaries back home) got a Masters in Paleo Protest from Columbia, applying his training as Apartheid Divest’s frontman supporting Hamas since 10/8/2023, which overlapped his work as a UNWRA political affairs officer. Since his arrest by ICE he’s been represented by 19 attorneys, including CUNY law prof Ramzi Kassem, himself a Paleo student activist at Columbia back in the day, and the ACLU. Mr. Khalil worked his way through college in Beirut as a popular, MI-6 vetted local staffer at the British embassy leading soft power projects, on one of which he worked with his future wife — Leb-American dentist Noor Abdalla, who interestingly is a hijabi, suggesting either Muslim Brotherhood or Hezbollah connections. No doubt it was for her sake he went to Columbia instead of Oxford…

from the immigration detention center where he has been held since early March while the Trump administration sought to deport him over his role in pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel protests.

US District Judge Michael Farbiarz announced the decision from the bench in New Jersey, responding to a request from Khalil’s lawyers to free him on bail or, at the very least, move him from a Louisiana jail to New Jersey so he can be closer to his wife and newborn son.

A mere federal district judge? This will need to go through the appeals court, then the US Supreme Court before the ruling is final. And then, either Mr. Khalil’s lawyers will file another lawsuit trying a different argument orthe US Justice Department will ditto. Either way, Mr. Khalil probably isn’t going anywhere until the last idea has been tried, at which point he will be sent

Khalil was the first arrest under US President Donald Trump
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel’s war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, launched after the October 7, 2023, Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
massacre.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy.

Farbiarz had ruled earlier that the government can’t continue to hold Khalil on those grounds, but the government argued the legal US resident was instead being held based on allegations that he lied on his green card application. Khalil disputes the accusations that he wasn’t forthcoming on the application.

Khalil was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan over his participation in pro-Paleostinian demonstrations. His lawyers say the Trump administration is simply trying to crack down on free speech.

Khalil isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The international affairs graduate student served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists. He wasn’t among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics.

The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country, as it considers their views antisemitic.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Falun Gong estimates a massive reduction in China’s population to between 330 million to 450 million

2025-03-28

[youtube : Falun Gong] Lei's Real Talk: The Vanishing Billion: Exposing China’s Population Myth

What is China’s real population today? While I’ve previously estimated it to be no more than 900 million—and later 800 million—the truth is far more shocking. Drawing from viewer insights and new analysis, I now believe China’s actual population may be as low as 300–400 million. This isn't a sensational claim, but a sober examination of two critical factors: the Chinese Communist Party’s decades-long manipulation of demographic data to project a false image of a massive consumer market, and the catastrophic, underreported death toll from COVID-19. Join me as I break down how we got here.

An interesting argument, which would mean China’s real window to take over the world is much smaller than we thought, and may already be closed. What a relief that would be!

Link

-Land of the Free

Staffer for California Dem city council candidate charged with acting as agent for CCP

2024-12-22

[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A Chinese national has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party as he was serving on the campaign of Democratic candidate who ran for an Arcadia City Council in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.

On Thursday, Yaoning ''Mike'' Sun, 64, was arrested and accused of conspiring with Chen Jun, another defendant who was convicted last month and sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an agent for the Chinese government, according to the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.

Although the candidate for which Sun worked for is not named in the court documents, the New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported that the candidate named as "Individual 1" in the documents is Eileen Wang, a Chinese American who ran for Arcadia City Council in 2022. Sun worked as Wang's treasurer for the 2022 run.

Wang is still on the city council and is identified as a Democrat in her campagin filings during her 2022 run, but has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

The 71-year-old Chen, who is also a foreign national of China, pleaded guilty to using money to bribe federal agents in an effort to undermine Falun Gong, spiritual group that is built around anti-CCP values. Sun as well as Chen are also charged with conspiring to impact elections.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday claimed that the country ''never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries" and was not familiar with the case. According to charging documents, Chen told Sun to report in 2023 on how they got an elected official in office in California. The report detailed that the politician that was pushed by the pair was a "new political star" in the state.

"This case is yet another example of a very disturbing trend: the People's Republic of China is seeking to influence foreign and domestic policy in the United States,'' US Attorney Martin Estrada told news hounds. "To do so, government officials in China are seeking to help get elected individuals who they see as being friendly to Chinese foreign policy.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

CCP Orders Immediate Return of Military Officers' Overseas Family Members!

2024-12-10

[X-Falun Gong]

Breaking: The CCP Orders Immediate Return of Military Officers' Overseas Family Members!

On December 7th, the CCP’s Central Military Commission and the State Council jointly issued a document, ordering that all direct family members of officers at the rank of platoon leader and… pic.twitter.com/ke8qK8Aj6i
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferzeng97) December 9, 2024

Full English translation of this document in Chinese:

State Council

Central Military Commission

General Office Document

[2024] No. 213

Notice from the State Council and the Central Military Commission

To the Five Theater Commands, Provincial Military Districts, All Military Branches, All Departments of the Central Military Commission:

In response to the complex international situation, with approval from the Party Central Committee, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission, it has been decided to recall the overseas family members of all military personnel. The relevant matters are notified below:

1. All direct family members of personnel at the rank of platoon leader and above who are still overseas in the Five Theater Commands, Provincial Military Districts, all military branches, all departments of the Central Military Commission, the Academy of Military Science, and the National Defense University must return to China by February 1, 2025. Priority for recall includes children, spouses, siblings, and parents.

2. By January 1st, all aforementioned units must submit a detailed report on overseas relatives to higher authorities.

3. Higher authorities will create a recall plan. The schedule for the return will be documented, and the execution and implementation will be monitored. Weekly summaries will be reported to the Party Central Committee.

4. For personnel whose relatives are still overseas past the February 1st deadline, immediate suspension will be enacted, and they must explain the situation to the Military Discipline Committee.

5. Those who refuse to comply, resist, or show negligence will have cases filed by the counterintelligence office and will be tried by a military court.

December 7, 2024

Seal: State Council of the People's Republic of China
Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

The CCP has already started to massively conscript discharged soldiers to return to service.

2024-10-17

[X - Falun Gong] The CCP has already started to massively conscript discharged soldiers to return to service. This is a "Reserve Service Notification." The full text translates to:

"Comrade Kong Deyong:

In accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Reserve Personnel," you have actively responded to the call and have been honorably approved to serve in the reserve force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is hoped that you will faithfully fulfill your military service obligations and contribute to the defense of the socialist motherland."

The date of the notice is September 18, 2024, with the seal of the "Chinese People's Liberation Army XXX People's Armed Forces Department." The specific location in the middle has been concealed.

Hit the link in title for images and more background

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Condemnation of China After August 31 Vessel Collision With Philippine Ship

2024-09-03

[Epoch Times] The United States and ambassadors of several other countries have condemned Beijing’s recent aggressive behavior in the South China Sea after its coast guard ship rammed into another Philippine vessel on Aug. 31.

U.S. Ambassador to the Phillippines MaryKay Carlson and ambassadors of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan voiced their concerns on X over Beijing’s escalations in the South China Sea.

In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States stands with the Philippines and condemns the "dangerous and escalatory actions by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the vicinity of Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea" on Aug. 31.

Manila stated that the Chinese Coast Guard vessel "deliberately rammed and collided with the BRP Teresa Magbanua three times, despite no provocation from the Philippine Coast Guard," and corroborated its assertion with three videos on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that appear to show moments before and during each collision.

The latest skirmish between the Chinese regime and the Philippines occurred near the Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as the Xianbin Jiao (Xianbin Reef) and the Filipinos call the Escoda Shoal.

It’s part of the disputed Spratly Islands over which both Beijing and Manila claim sovereignty.

According to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), up to 200 nautical miles off the coast of a nation counts as its exclusive economic zone, and the Sabina Shoal—which is much closer to the Philippines than it is to China—falls within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.

A 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in The Hague also found that the Chinese regime had no legal basis for its territorial claims over the South China Sea. Beijing stated that the court doesn’t have the power to rule on territorial disputes and passed a domestic law that it claims allows its coast guard to detain foreigners it views as trespassers while ramping up aggression in the area.

It’s the fourth sea incident and the third collision incident in a month over which Beijing and Manila publicly traded accusations. The Inclusion of air incidents makes it the seventh skirmish.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Unfounded Xi Jinping 'Stroke' Rumors Fanned by Russian Media

2024-08-20

[NEWSWEEK] Rumors that Chinese President Xi Jinping suffered a stroke have gone viral on Russian social media, causing a stir and leading to various speculative reports.

The incident was alleged to have occurred during the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Third Plenary Session, which ran from Monday to Thursday. The meetings, attended by top party leadership, are widely anticipated by China analysts for signs of policy changes that could set the direction of the country's development.

The rumor gained traction on Wednesday when it was reported on by Jennifer Zeng, a human rights activist formerly with the Falun Gong-backed, anti-CCP news outlet The Epoch Times, on her show "Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng."

"Since yesterday, Chinese social media has been buzzing with the news that something 'big' has happened," Zeng wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The Chinese and Russian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to written requests for comment.

Russian news agency RuNews24 amplified the rumors with a headline reading, "There is a tragedy in China: the life of Chinese leader Xi Jinping hangs by a thread." Another Russian outlet, Hibiny, reported, "Chinese leader Xi Jinping suffered a stroke," adding "he is on the verge of death" and "doctors are now fighting for his life."

Both sources acknowledged the lack of concrete information and noted the lack of an official Chinese response.

The rumors were also circulated by Ukrainian media.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Inside China's Largest Civil Disobedience Movement, and Why You Haven't Heard of It: Larry Liu

2024-08-03

[ET - American Thought Leaders] In China, a grassroots, underground movement of Chinese has been cutting through the communist regime’s censorship and propaganda machines—one pamphlet at a time.

Since the Chinese communist regime launched a nationwide persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline 25 years ago, Falun Gong’s millions of adherents in China started creating secret underground print shops to expose the regime’s human rights atrocities.

All across China, they secretly distribute flyers, DVDs, and brochures en masse, hang posters in public areas in the dead of night, and circulate software to their fellow Chinese so they can circumvent China’s internet blockade. Those arrested face years in prison—as long as 15 years.

So who are these people? And why is their story critical to understanding China today?

In this episode, I sit down with Larry Liu, deputy director of the Falun Dafa Information Center.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Link

-Land of the Free

Epoch Times CFO charged with money laundering

2024-06-04

[CNBC] Epoch Times CFO Bill Guan is charged in alleged $67 million global money laundering scheme.

The finance chief of conservative global news outlet The Epoch Times was arrested and charged with leading a yearslong scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds.

The alleged scheme by Weidong Guan and others involved cryptocurrency, prepaid debit cards, fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits and stolen personal identification information, according to federal prosecutors.

The money laundering scheme caused tens of millions of dollars to be transferred to bank accounts linked to the media company, prosecutors alleged.

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.

“When banks raised questions about the funds, Guan allegedly lied repeatedly and falsely claimed that the funds came from legitimate donations to the media company,” Williams said.

The Epoch Times in a statement said it has temporarily suspended Guan.

“The company intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan,” a spokesperson for the outlet told CNBC.

“In the interim, although Mr. Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved.”

Guan, a resident of Secaucus, New Jersey, managed the Epoch Times’ “Make Money Online team,” which carried out the scheme to buy “crime proceeds” and transfer them to bank accounts linked to the media outlet, according to his indictment.

From 2020 to 2024, the team allegedly used a crypto platform to buy tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds at discounted rates, of 70 to 80 cents on the dollar, in exchange for cryptocurrency. The crime proceeds, which came from sources including “fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits,” were loaded onto tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards, prosecutors alleged.

After purchasing the crime proceeds, participants allegedly used stolen personally identifiable information to open various types of accounts and transfer the proceeds into bank accounts linked with the media outlet and related entities.

They were often laundered again through other accounts, including Guan’s own personal bank and crypto accounts, according to prosecutors.

To hide the illegal nature of the proceeds, Guan and his co-conspirators allegedly lied to banks and other entities about their sources.

NBC News and other outlets have reported on The Epoch Times’ affiliation with the Chinese religious group Falun Gong, which in recent years has supported former President Donald Trump as an ally in its opposition to the country’s ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The Epoch Times is not mentioned by name in the indictment. But Guan is listed as Epoch Times’ chief financial officer on the nonprofit media company’s most recent tax return, filed in late 2023.

Prosecutors alleged the money laundering scheme benefited “a multinational media company headquartered in Manhattan, New York.” The Epoch Times is headquartered on West 28th Street in Manhattan.

Prosecutors allege the scheme by Guan and his co-conspirators caused the company’s revenue to jump from “approximately $15 million to approximately $62 million” between 2019 and 2020.

The bank fraud counts each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while the conspiracy holds a 20-year maximum prison sentence. The charges against Guan “do not relate to the Media Company’s newsgathering activities,” the Department of Justice noted in a press release.

Link

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