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| The Shen Yun Perfoerming dance troupe is currently performing in the US. |
A Los Angeles resident was sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as unregistered agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot targeting the Shen Yun Performing Arts, an outreach effort of Falun Gong— a spiritual practice banned in China.
John Chen, 71, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Los Angeles, was sentenced Nov. 19 to 20 months in prison for acting as unregistered agents of the PRC and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot to target US-based practitioners of Falun Gong — a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.
According to court documents, from at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, John Chen and co-defendant Lin Feng, 44, a PRC citizen and resident of Los Angeles, worked inside the US at the direction of the PRC government, including an identified PRC government official PRC Official-1, to further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners.
According to court documents, from at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, John Chen and co-defendant Lin Feng, 44, a PRC citizen and resident of Los Angeles, worked inside the US at the direction of the PRC government, including an identified PRC government official PRC Official-1, to further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners.
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.
RELATED: More PRC agents convicted for harassing, threatening US residents.
As part of the PRC's campaign against the Falun Gong, Chen and Feng engaged in a PRC government-directed scheme to manipulate the IRS’ Whistleblower Program in an effort to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong followers, the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, a dance troup that has been criticized as "propaganda" for promoting the tenets of Falun Gong.
As part of the PRC's campaign against the Falun Gong, Chen and Feng engaged in a PRC government-directed scheme to manipulate the IRS’ Whistleblower Program in an effort to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong followers, the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, a dance troup that has been criticized as "propaganda" for promoting the tenets of Falun Gong.
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 a purported IRS agent (identified as Agent-1) who was, in fact, an undercover officer, in exchange for Agent-1’s assistance in advancing the complaint.
Neither Chen nor Feng notified the Attorney General that they were acting as agents of the PRC in the United States.
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, 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.
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, 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 met with Agent-1 in Newburgh, New York, on May 14, 2023. During the meeting, Chen gave Agent-1 a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe payment. Chen further offered to pay Agent-1 a total of $50,000 for opening an audit on the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, as well as 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS if the Chen Whistleblower Complaint were successful. On May 18, 2023, Feng paid Agent-1 a $4,000 cash bribe at John F. Kennedy International Airport as an additional partial bribe payment in furtherance of the scheme.
In addition to the prison term, Chen was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $50,000. Feng was sentenced on Sept. 26, to a time-served sentence of 16 months in prison.
As part of this scheme, Chen and Feng met with Agent-1 in Newburgh, New York, on May 14, 2023. During the meeting, Chen gave Agent-1 a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe payment. Chen further offered to pay Agent-1 a total of $50,000 for opening an audit on the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, as well as 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS if the Chen Whistleblower Complaint were successful. On May 18, 2023, Feng paid Agent-1 a $4,000 cash bribe at John F. Kennedy International Airport as an additional partial bribe payment in furtherance of the scheme.
In addition to the prison term, Chen was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $50,000. Feng was sentenced on Sept. 26, to a time-served sentence of 16 months in prison.
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