CFO Of Trump Supporting Epoch Times Arrested For Money Laundering $67 Million

NEW YORK, NY (ANI) – The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Epoch Times, Weidong “Bill” Guan, has been arrested over his alleged involvement in a money-laundering scheme.

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 top executive of the Epoch Times, a New York-based conservative media outlet known for its fierce criticism of the Chinese government, Guan allegedly participated in a “sprawling, transnational scheme.”

The scheme was used to launder $67 million in illegally obtained funds to benefit himself and the company.

The US Justice Department further added that it was under Guan’s management the company members who used to work for a specific team called “Make Money Online” were using cryptocurrency to buy tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds, including fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits that were loaded onto prepaid debit cards.

The employees then used stolen personal information to open bank and cryptocurrency accounts to transfer the illicit proceeds, according to Al Jazeera.

Prosecutors said the charges are not related to the Epoch Times’s news-gathering activities.

Guan, 61, of Secaucus, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.

The most serious of the charges carries a maximum punishment of 30 years in prison.