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| Chinese Americans demonstrate against the Peoples Republic of China. |
A federal court in the Southern District of New York Friday, May 26, unsealed a complaint charging two California men with acting and conspiring to act as unregistered agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), conspiring to bribe and bribing a government official, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to the complaint, John Chen, aka Chen Jun, 70, a Los Angeles resident and former citizen of the PRC, and Lin Feng, a Los Angeles resident and PRC citizen, allegedly participated in a PRC government-directed scheme targeting US-based practitioners of Falun Gong — a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.
According to the complaint, John Chen, aka Chen Jun, 70, a Los Angeles resident and former citizen of the PRC, and Lin Feng, a Los Angeles resident and PRC citizen, allegedly participated in a PRC government-directed scheme targeting US-based practitioners of Falun Gong — a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.
As the contents of the complaint were being revealed in New York, the two suspects were arrested the same day in Los Angeles.
“The Chinese government has yet again attempted, and failed, to target critics of the PRC here in the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland at the press event. Their intended target were the US followers of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, based broadly around meditation, was banned by China in 1999 after 10,000 members appeared at the central leadership compound in Beijing in silent protest. The group has called for people to renounce the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
“The Chinese government has yet again attempted, and failed, to target critics of the PRC here in the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland at the press event. Their intended target were the US followers of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, based broadly around meditation, was banned by China in 1999 after 10,000 members appeared at the central leadership compound in Beijing in silent protest. The group has called for people to renounce the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The PRC government has designated the Falun Gong as one of the “five poisons,” or one of the top five threats to its rule. In China, Falun Gong adherents face a range of repressive and punitive measures from the PRC government, including imprisonment and torture.
“We allege the defendants in this case attempted to bribe someone they thought was an IRS agent in order to further the Chinese government’s campaign of transnational repression in the United States. But the individual they attempted to bribe was in fact an undercover law enforcement agent, and both defendants were arrested this morning (May 26).
“The Department of Justice continues to expose the Chinese government’s brazen attempts to perpetrate transnational repression, this time through attempted bribery,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “As highlighted by today’s arrests and charges of conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering, we will not tolerate efforts by the PRC or any foreign government to intimidate, harass, or undermine the rights and freedoms enjoyed by all who live in the United States.”
“China’s government has once again shown its disregard for the rule of law and international norms,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will not tolerate CCP repression — its efforts to threaten, harass, and intimidate people — here in the United States. We will continue to confront the Chinese government’s efforts to violate our laws and repress the rights and freedoms of people in our country.”
“China’s government has once again shown its disregard for the rule of law and international norms,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will not tolerate CCP repression — its efforts to threaten, harass, and intimidate people — here in the United States. We will continue to confront the Chinese government’s efforts to violate our laws and repress the rights and freedoms of people in our country.”
“John Chen and Lin Feng allegedly waged a campaign at the behest of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to influence a U.S. Government official in order to further the PRC Government’s repression of practitioners of Falun Gong,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “Efforts to manipulate and use the arms of the U.S. Government to carry out the PRC Government’s autocratic aims are as shocking as they are insidious. My office will work vigorously to protect against malign foreign influences.”
The complaint alleges that from at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, at the direction of the PRC government,via an identified PRC government official (PRC Official-1), tChen and Feng worked too further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners in the US.
The complaint alleges that from at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, at the direction of the PRC government,via an identified PRC government official (PRC Official-1), tChen and Feng worked too further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners in the US.
As part of the PRC government’s campaign against the Falun Gong, Chen and Feng allegedly engaged in a scheme to manipulate the IRS’s Whistleblower Program in an effort to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners (Entity-1).
After Chen filed a defective whistleblower complaint with the IRS (the Chen Whistleblower Complaint), Chen and Feng paid $5,000 in cash bribes, and promised to pay substantially more, to an undercover agents posing as an IRS agent,
Neither Chen nor Feng notified the Attorney General that they were acting as agents of the PRC government in the United States which they would be required to do.
In the course of the scheme, Chen, on a recorded call, explicitly noted that the purpose of paying these bribes, which were directed and funded by the PRC government, was to carry out the PRC government’s aim of “toppl[ing] . . . the Falun Gong.”
In the course of the scheme, Chen, on a recorded call, explicitly noted that the purpose of paying these bribes, which were directed and funded by the PRC government, was to carry out the PRC government’s aim of “toppl[ing] . . . the Falun Gong.”
During a call intercepted pursuant to a judicially authorized wiretap, Chen and Feng discussed receiving “direction” on the bribery scheme from PRC Official-1, deleting instructions received from PRC Official-1 in order to evade detection, and “alert[ing]” and “sound[ing] the alarm” to PRC Official-1 if Chen and Feng’s meetings to bribe Agent-1 did not go as planned.
Chen and Feng also discussed that PRC Official-1 was the PRC Government official “in charge” of the bribery scheme targeting the Falun Gong.
As part of this scheme, Chen and Feng allegedly met with the undercover agent in Newburgh, New York, on May 14. During the meeting, Chen gave the fake IRS official a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe payment. Chen further offered to pay the undercover agent a total of $50,000 for opening an audit of Entity-1, as well as 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS if the Chen Whistleblower Complaint were successful.
As part of this scheme, Chen and Feng allegedly met with the undercover agent in Newburgh, New York, on May 14. During the meeting, Chen gave the fake IRS official a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe payment. Chen further offered to pay the undercover agent a total of $50,000 for opening an audit of Entity-1, as well as 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS if the Chen Whistleblower Complaint were successful.
On May 18, Feng paid the undercover agent posting as an IRS employee a $4,000 cash bribe at John F. Kennedy International Airport as an additional partial bribe payment in furtherance of the scheme. Chen allegedly obtained funding from the PRC government to make bribe payments during his trips to the PRC in the course of the scheme.
Chen and Feng are each charged with:
Chen and Feng are each charged with:
- one count of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General and to bribe a public official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison;
- one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison;
- one count of bribing a public official, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; and (4) one count of conspiring to commit international money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The arrests of the two suspected foreign agents in California is the latest in a focus of on suspected PRC agents in the US who have been engaged in alleged activities against US residents. Last month federal authorities arrested two men in New York City who have been charged with harassing and threatening New York residents of Chinese descent.
“No other nation poses as severe a threat to the democratic values of the United States as the government of the People’s Republic of China,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “The FBI will not stand by as the PRC attempts to weaponize our institutions and programs and attack the rights of those on US soil. Any attempt to repress or harass individuals runs directly counter to the ideals our nation was founded upon, and it simply will not be tolerated.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.
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