Media Executive Accused of $67 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has charged Bill Guan, the Chief Financial Officer of the international media company Epoch Times, with orchestrating a scheme to launder at least $67 million in illicit funds through cryptocurrencies. 

According to the case documents, from 2020 to May 2024, Guan established a team called Make Money Online in one of the firm’s offices. Members of this team acquired funds obtained from various crimes using cryptocurrencies at a 20-30% discount and transferred them to prepaid debit cards. 

To open bank accounts and crypto wallets on unnamed trading platforms, the scheme’s participants used stolen personal data. 

The prosecution claims that during the period of these illegal operations, the annual revenue of Epoch Times, according to reports, increased from $15 million to $62 million. In response to bank inquiries about the rise in transactions, Guan stated that the funds were received by the media company as donations.

In total, for conspiracy to launder money and two counts of bank fraud, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison. The case has been brought to court.

Earlier, ForkLog reported that the U.S. secured the extradition from Estonia of the founders of the cloud mining service HashFlare and the digital bank Polybius Bank, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin. They are accused of cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering amounting to $575 million.