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NEW YORK (AP) — The former chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, a conservative multinational media company, interrupted jury selection at his money laundering trial on Thursday to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge in a $67 million fraud scheme.
Weidong “Bill” Guan, 63, of Secaucus, New Jersey, entered the plea in Manhattan federal court, admitting his participation in what prosecutors described as a scheme to launder fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and other funds through the New York-based media company’s bank accounts and related entities.
The conspiracy charge relating to illegal financial transactions carries a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the deal with prosecutors spares him from the possibility that he would be convicted of other charges at trial and face the chance of more than a decade in prison.
Judge Victor Marrero did not immediately set a sentencing date for Guan, who remains free on bail.
As he admitted his role, Guan said he knew there was “a high probability” that money passing through accounts he oversaw “were the proceeds of criminality.”
He said that despite the probability that the money was linked to fraud, he “chose to accept” explanations he was given and “did not look deeper to verify my concerns.”
“This was a tremendous lapse in judgment,” Guan told the judge. “It was wrong and I am very sorry for my actions.”
In response to a question posed by the judge, Guan confirmed that he knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal.
But when the judge asked him if he was pleading guilty, he responded: “I feel like I’m guilty.”
Marrero told him it was not a question of what he felt, but whether he was guilty.
“I’m guilty,” Guan responded.
According to court papers, members of the company’s “Make Money Online” team, which was managed by Guan, used cryptocurrency since 2020 to “knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds,” including funds from fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits that were loaded onto prepaid debit cards.
Stolen personal information was then used to open accounts as part of the money laundering scheme, prosecutors said. The money was further laundered through other bank accounts held by Epoch and Guan’s personal bank and cryptocurrency accounts, they said.
Prosecutors have said the charges are not related to the media company’s newsgathering activities.
A prosecutor told the judge that a trial would have included testimony from current and former Epoch Times employees along with cryptocurrency records and hundreds of emails and text messages, including some in which Guan misled banks about the nature of the income going through various accounts.
Federal prosecutors said the media company’s revenues jumped approximately 410% when the money laundering began, from approximately $15 million to $62 million. Guan, they said, lied to banks when they asked about the increase in transactions and said there was an increase in legitimate donations.
The Epoch Times, which has promised full cooperation with prosecutors, has become politically conservative over the years and has embraced President Donald Trump.
After Thursday’s plea, the Epoch Times said in a statement that it was never a party to the litigation and it “remains focused on producing award-winning and independent journalism” under the leadership of its chief executive, Samuel Zhou, and its chief financial officer, William Cheung.
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