Federal prosecutors have charged 61-year-old Bill Guan with participating in a global conspiracy to launder at least $67 million (£52 million) in illegal funds for both the Epoch Times and himself.
The indictment states that Mr. Guan oversaw the outlet’s “Make Money Online” team, which bought tens of millions of dollars’ worth of criminal gains with cryptocurrencies.
Mr. Guan hasn’t made a plea as of yet. He faces a sentence of more than thirty years in prison if found guilty.
The Epoch Times informed the news that it “intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan” in a statement on Monday evening.
The corporation has suspended Mr. Guan until this issue is handled, despite the fact that he is innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the news site.
When questioned specifically about the Make Money Online team that the prosecutors had mentioned, it remained silent.
The news reporter was unable to get in touch with Mr. Guan.
Federal prosecutors laid out the purported strategy, which they said started about 2020, in the 12-page indictment.
Prosecutors claimed that the scheme was straightforward: members of the Make Money Online (MMO) team would buy criminal proceeds with cryptocurrencies at a discount and deposit those proceeds into bank accounts controlled by newspaper-affiliated organizations.
Eventually, “tens of thousands of layered transactions” would be used to transfer the illicit gains back into the Epoch Times accounts, including through it.
