(Minghui.org) After the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York sentenced John Chen and Lin Feng on November 19, 2024, for acting as unregistered agents of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), over 10 U.S. news media reported on how Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents participated in the persecution of Falun Gong and their interference with Shen Yun Performing Arts group.
According to Fox 41, Chinese citizen John Chen was sentenced to a term of 20 months for harassing Falun Gong in the U.S. He was “convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and bribing a tax authority agent” as described in a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chen and another Chinese national, Lin Feng, 44, who also lived in Los Angeles, took part in a Chinese government campaign to “repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners” in the United States, reported Fox news.
“In 2023, Chen and Feng sought to have the Internal Revenue Service strip the tax-exempt status of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, which is run by the Falun Gong. As part of the scheme, they paid a $5,000 cash bribe to a purported IRS agent who was in fact an undercover officer,” the news article continued. “In addition to 20 months in prison, Chen was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $50,000,” the report said. “Feng was sentenced in September to time-served of 16 months in prison.”
United Press International also reported on this in an article titled, “Court sentences Chinese national over scheme targeting Falun Gong practitioners.” A Chinese national has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after admitting to trying to damage an opposition religious movement present in the United States under the direction of the Asian nation,” the article stated.
John Chen and his co-defendant, Lin Feng, a Chinese national and resident of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in July, 2024, to conspiring at China’s direction to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, which is run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners, the report continued.
The news outlet, nbcrightnow.com, in Washington state reported that a 71-year-old Chinese man was sentenced to 20 months in prison on November 19 for taking part in a plot targeting the Falun Gong spiritual movement in the United States.
John Chen was convicted and sentenced for acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government as well as bribing a tax authority agent. Both he and Lin Feng attempted in 2023 to remove the tax-exempt status of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center.
Hoodline.com reported this in an article titled: “California Man Sentenced to 20 Months as Unregistered PRC Agent and for Bribery in Falun Gong Suppression Scheme.” John Chen, 71, from Chino, California was involved in a plot targeting U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is banned in the PRC.
Along with co-defendant Lin Feng, Chen worked during the period from January 2023 to May 2023 to further the PRC government’s campaign to oppress Falun Gong inside the U.S. “Acting upon instructions and funded by a PRC government official, he attempted to bribe what turned out to be an undercover officer with the goal of ‘toppl[ing]… the Falun Gong,’” reported the article. This aim was made explicitly clear by Chen according to a recorded call which contributed to the evidence against him.
Feng was sentenced to a time-served sentence of 16 months on September 26 for offering bribes meant to manipulate the IRS’s Whistleblower Program and undermine tax-exempt entities associated with Falun Gong, notably the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, stated the article.
“In advancement of the PRC-directed scheme, Chen met with the undercover officer in Newburgh, New York, on May 14, 2023, handing over a $1,000 cash bribe. Promising 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS, he also offered a total of $50,000 for opening an audit on the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center. Submitted documentation included a complaint which was aimed at stripping the tax-exempt status of the center,” the article continued.
Citing a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, the report wrote, “Today’s sentence is a reminder that the U.S. justice system will hold accountable those who attempt to engage in malicious transnational repression on American soil.” Williams further declared that such actions aimed at repressing free speech and harassing critics of the PRC within the United States will not be tolerated.
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