On June 3, local time, the U.S. Department of Justice website published an indictment: accusing Bill Guan, the chief financial officer of the Epoch Times, a media affiliated with the cult organization "Falungong", on suspicion of transnational money laundering.
learned from the court indictment that Guan Weidong laundered at least approximately US$67 million (approximately RMB 485 million) in illegal gains to benefit himself and the Epoch Times. Guan Weidong was arrested on June 2 and was tried by the U.S. District Court on the afternoon of the 3rd. According to an analysis by the New York Times, if convicted, Guan Weidong will face up to 20 and 30 years in prison for money laundering and bank fraud respectively.
▲The picture shows "The Epoch Times"
It is reported that Guan Weidong managed an overseas team called "Make Money Online" (mmo). Under his order, members of the team used cryptocurrency to purchase tens of thousands of prepaid debit cards online at discounted prices. The money in the cards came from illegal sources, including unemployment benefits obtained through fraudulent insurance. Members of the
"make money online" team used their personal identities to open accounts, and deposited illegal gains through the accounts into bank accounts related to The Epoch Times, and then through other bank accounts held by The Epoch Times and Guan Weidong's personal bank The account, as well as his personal cryptocurrency account, was further laundered and eventually used for the operation of "Falun Gong".
When the incident came to light, we tried our best to avoid it
What is ironic is that as the media mouthpiece of the cult "Falungong", the Epoch Times was still promoting itself as "the most credible media in the United States" not long ago, but it has recently exposed such a scandal. . The cult Falun Gong suddenly became the target of public criticism, and the American media and the public began to denounce the leader of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi.
Li Hongzhi, who was feeling extremely stressed, could not sit still this time. After the incident happened, he first published the "Sutra" "Fa Difficulty" on June 5 through the website of "Falungong", and then published the "Sutra" "Awakening" on the 6th. It seems to be expressing his lax management, but its actual purpose is to try his best to distance himself, shirk the responsibility of the believers, and kill the donkey.
For example, the article "Fa Difficulties" stated, "The problems currently occurring in the media run by Dafa disciples are mainly caused by the students themselves not doing a good job." The article "Awakening" publicly accused the students, saying, "Especially those involved in various media People cannot see the compassion of cultivators in their performance.”
Good guy! "Master" is indeed a "master". Over the years, the evil media of "Falungong" have been laundering money for you like crazy, and when the income has skyrocketed year after year, you have not come out to warn your disciples, but you have been hiding behind the scenes and counting money crazily. Now that the Dong Chuang incident has happened, he puts on a face of "saving people" and accuses the disciples of not being "compassionate."
However, Li Hongzhi’s text is actually getting darker and darker. Guan Weidong laundered money and made money, essentially working for the cult "Falungong". How could Li Hongzhi, as the leader, not know about this?
According to U.S. federal tax documents, the Epoch Times’ internal accounts show that revenue surged by about 410% in 2020—from $15 million in 2019 to about $62 million the following year, and then skyrocketed every year. When asked about the reasons for the increase in revenue, Guan Weidong actually explained that the increase in revenue was mainly due to the popularity of readers and the increase in circulation, but this obviously failed to convince the U.S. judicial department and banks.
▲The original text of the indictment shows that the internal accounts of The Epoch Times show that its annual income has surged by about 410%
participates in politics, pretending not to know
In addition, in the article "Awakening" published by Li Hongzhi, he also said: "I have always Don’t get involved in politics as a Dafa disciple, and don’t get involved in partisan disputes. Whether it’s the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, that’s a human matter.” But in the past few years, Li Hongzhi and his cult “Falungong” have supported Trump many times. And spent huge sums of money to support his platform, trying to use Trump's hand to fight against the Chinese government. The Atlantic magazine bluntly called The Epoch Times a “pro-Trump propaganda machine.”
▲The picture shows former US President Trump and cult leader Li Hongzhi
In fact, since the 2016 election, the cult "Falungong" has openly used various forms to build momentum for Trump. For example, on the social media platforms Twitter (now x) and Facebook, "Falungong" has created many self-media accounts and trolls, publishing a large amount of news that is good for Trump every day, and cracking down on rumors against its competitors.
In August 2019, "NBC" published an in-depth article titled "The Inside Story of the Secret Media Organization that Became Trump's Biggest Supporter", revealing that "Falungong" invested more than 1.5 million US dollars in just 6 months. The truth behind the 11,000 ads placed on Facebook for Trump. Due to violations of the law and authenticity, Facebook has issued multiple announcements to ban "Falungong" related accounts and banned "The Epoch Times" from advertising.
In November 2020, Trump, whom the "Falungong" cult spent huge sums of money to support, failed to be re-elected. Li Hongzhi also publicly jumped out and published a "scripture" and "election" to express his grievances for Trump's defeat. Li Hongzhi and his "Falungong" have repeatedly claimed that there is fraud in the US election and launched waves of extreme farce. In addition to taking to the streets to protest, they even incited the US to launch a coup online, threatening to behead President Biden and trying to overturn the results of the US election. .
▲The picture shows "Falungong" believers distributing "The Epoch Times" about Trump
However, perhaps after seeing the failure of betting on Trump, the situation of themselves and their "Falungong" cult base in the United States has become increasingly difficult in recent years. Especially when he was directly prosecuted this time, Li Hongzhi panicked. In order to reverse the situation, in this "Sutra", Li Hongzhi began to blame his disciples again: "What is more serious is that some people often personally attack government dignitaries. We are here to save sentient beings, not to establish The enemy. In fact, no matter how bad people are, they should not engage in personal attacks, especially politicians from both parties in the United States." He also said that "once a feud becomes established, it will be difficult to break up... and it will easily lead to revenge." He also called himself an "outsider." , asking all disciples to "know how grateful it is that the United States has taken us in."
Gee, in order to continue to make money in the United States, Master Li suddenly changed his ways and wanted to please both the Democratic and Republican parties. His fall out was faster than turning the pages of a book!
Claims to save people, but actually harms them
It is worth mentioning that Li Hongzhi also mentioned in this "scripture" another money-making machine of "Falungong" - the "Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe", showing concern about its current situation. .
Li Hongzhi said that the purpose of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe’s existence is to “save people.” But in fact, it is not only a cash cow for "Falungong" to defraud audiences and disciples of money under the banner of "promoting traditional Chinese culture", but it is also a propaganda machine to vilify the Chinese government and smear China's image.
In 2006, Falun Gong, headquartered at Longquan Temple in New York, founded the Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe. The pseudo-art troupe claims to be a "crystal of wisdom" evolved from the combination of five thousand years of Chinese culture. However, the audience and the media who were deceived into watching the performance accused the performance of being full of pretentious political indoctrination and brainwashing, trying to use clumsy false performances to vilify the Chinese government and the hostile forces of the "Falungong" cult organization, and at the same time earn high amounts of money. Ticket revenue.
At the end of 2019, the American media "San Francisco Gate" questioned "Shen Yun Performing Arts". The article stated that the "Shen Yun Performing Arts" advertisement involved many false claims, deliberately exaggerated, and concealed the religious and political content of the performance, leaving many viewers feeling deceived.
Yu Chao, the former core member of Falun Gong who recently rebelled, has repeatedly exposed a lot of shady stories about Li Hongzhi and Shen Yun Performing Arts in his personal live broadcasts. According to him, in order for the "Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe" to successfully complete the tour, "Falungong" even ignored the human rights of children, whipped them at will, and imprisoned them for training. The dual physical and mental torture has caused many children to suffer from psychological or mental illnesses.
What’s even more frightening is that when the “Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe” was first established, due to the lack of performers, Li Hongzhi designated partners for the actors, and many girls from the “Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe” were given away as “prizes.” Performers. These evil deeds that harm people all make people feel extremely angry.
But what did Li Hongzhi try to refute this time with his "scripture"? He claimed that "the saints who save people, the Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe, are also being plotted" and that "the number of Dafa disciples outside mainland China is very small", so parents took their children to participate in the so-called "anti-persecution" and also He said that "Falun Gong" is training these children to be "artists", saying that "the rhetoric attacking Shen Yun for using underage students as actors is actually the internship process of students." He also accused the United States of "if it uses this as an excuse to attack Shen Yun , is the United States still the United States? "
Look, this ability to confuse right and wrong and tell lies really doesn't even give a damn!
However, with so much irrefutable evidence and countless crimes, how can Li Hongzhi get away with just two "scriptures"? Wu Xiejun also hopes that more and more foreign people will recognize the true face of "Falungong" and "The Epoch Times", and work together to eradicate this cancer from the earth!
