A conservative media company’s former money man just admitted he helped turn stolen unemployment benefits into “donations” that supercharged its revenue.
Story Snapshot
- Former Epoch Times chief financial officer Weidong “Bill” Guan pleaded guilty in a $67 million fraud scheme.
- Prosecutors say stolen unemployment benefits were laundered through fake “donations” tied to The Epoch Times’ bank accounts.
- Guan’s team allegedly used cryptocurrency, prepaid cards, and stolen identities to move crime money into the media business.
- The case shows how modern money laundering can hide inside the donation streams of political and media organizations.
A guilty plea that stopped a trial in its tracks
Jury selection had barely begun in a Manhattan federal courtroom when Weidong “Bill” Guan suddenly changed the entire story. Prosecutors were preparing to lay out a complex global scheme.
Instead, the former chief financial officer of The Epoch Times stood up, used a translator, and told the judge, “I am guilty.” That simple sentence locked in the government’s version of events and spared Guan the risk of decades in prison for heavier money-laundering and bank-fraud charges.
Guan, age 63 and based in Secaucus, New Jersey, admitted to one count of conspiracy to engage in transactions involving criminal proceeds. The charge he pleaded to carries a maximum of ten years behind bars, far less than the stack of charges he originally faced.
He also agreed to forfeit at least $67 million and pay up to the same amount in restitution, a massive acknowledgment of the scale of the money that moved through the scheme.
How stolen unemployment benefits became “donations”
Federal prosecutors say the operation ran from at least 2019 through May 2024, while Guan was the top finance officer at The Epoch Times. They describe a “sprawling, international scheme” that turned crime money into apparent reader support for the newspaper.
The plan hinged on buying discounted value stored on gift cards and prepaid debit cards loaded with fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits, often 70 to 80 cents on the dollar. The cards were proceeds of crime; the inflow back into the company was dressed up as donor money.
The former CFO of The Epoch Times, a conservative multinational media company, interrupted jury selection at his money laundering trial to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge in a $67 million fraud scheme. https://t.co/bthDeI2GZ9
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 10, 2026
To make that transformation work, the scheme needed digital tools and fake identities. Court filings say members of a “Make Money Online” team, managed by Guan and based overseas, used cryptocurrency starting in 2020 to “knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds,” including stolen benefits.
Prosecutors say the team then used stolen personal information to open bank and cryptocurrency accounts, which served as funnels for moving dirty money into accounts controlled by The Epoch Times and related entities.
The banks asked questions, and he allegedly lied
Modern banks monitor unusual transaction patterns, and this scheme triggered alarms. Financial institutions flagged suspicious activity and reached out to Guan, asking why money was suddenly racing through accounts tied to the media company.
According to the Justice Department, he did not come clean. Instead, they say he knowingly misled the banks, claiming the surge came from legitimate donations. Emails and messages that prosecutors planned to show at trial reportedly documented those false reassurances and warnings he chose to ignore.
During the fraud period, The Epoch Times’ annual revenue jumped roughly 410 percent, from about $15 million to about $62 million, according to Guan’s 2024 indictment.
Prosecutors connect that spike directly to the laundering scheme. If that indictment picture holds, it means the paper’s financial boom was not only about audience growth or business savvy.
It was heavily fueled by money siphoned from taxpayers through unemployment fraud and then pushed through sham donation channels servicing a conservative media brand.
Crime, politics, and a conservative media ecosystem
The Epoch Times is not just another newspaper; it is a conservative multinational outlet tied to the Falun Gong movement and known for backing right-wing causes.
That makes this case more than a dry white-collar story. When a politically active media company sees its revenue soar while its chief financial officer is running a fake donation pipeline built on stolen government benefits, Americans have reason to ask hard questions about financial integrity and oversight in the political media world.
Ex-Epoch Times CFO Weidong "Bill" Guan pleads guilty in $67M multinational money laundering scheme | Larry Neumeister, AP News
The former chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, a conservative multinational media company, interrupted jury selection at his money laundering… pic.twitter.com/noox7tloGm
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) July 12, 2026
Prosecutors were careful to note that the criminal conduct “does not relate to the Epoch Times’ newsgathering activities.” The organization has also pointed out that it is not itself a party to the case. That is legally important, but from this view, it does not erase concern.
A company that relies on public trust and claims the moral high ground should have strong controls to prevent its finance chief from turning criminal proceeds into operating revenue. Donors, readers, and taxpayers all deserve better than a system that only comes to light when a federal indictment drops.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, courthousenews.com, justice.gov
