The Epoch Times

Overview

The Epoch Times is a Falun Gong-backed international newspaper and media company, founded in 2000 by practitioner John Tang, that grew from a free Chinese-language paper into a major pro-Trump publisher — before a federal case exposed its finances: in 2026, former CFO Weidong “Bill” Guan pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder about $67 million in fraud proceeds through the organization (The New York Times; U.S. Department of Justice).

It began in Tang’s Georgia basement covering Falun Gong’s persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, then pivoted in 2016–2017: embracing Donald Trump as an ally against Beijing and betting on Facebook, where the outlet and affiliates built dozens of viral-clickbait pages to sell subscriptions and drive traffic to partisan coverage (The New York Times). Legally it sits inside The Epoch Times Association, Inc., a New York-based nonprofit whose tax filings show revenue jumping from under $15.5 million in 2019 to $121.5 million in 2021 (NPR; U.S. Department of Justice).

Origins and the Falun Gong connection

The Epoch Times got its start in 2000 to counter Chinese propaganda and report on Falun Gong’s persecution by the Chinese government, which had banned the movement (The New York Times). Founder John Tang, then a Georgia graduate student, launched it as a Chinese-language newspaper from his basement, staffed largely by unpaid Falun Gong volunteers; it expanded into English by 2004 (The New York Times). Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi called The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television “our media” in speeches, and two former employees said top editors had met Li at Dragon Springs, the movement’s upstate New York headquarters, with one describing him as a “shadow publisher” — an account the outlet denied, saying “there has been no such meeting” (The New York Times). The outlet calls itself independent and nonpartisan, rejecting claims of official Falun Gong affiliation; it is organized as a decentralized cluster of regional nonprofit chapters and is notably secretive — editors declined interview requests, and a reporter’s unannounced headquarters visit drew a lawyer’s threat (The New York Times).

The Trump pivot and the Facebook ad machine

In 2016–2017 the paper made two changes that transformed it from a small, low-budget newspaper into one of America’s most powerful digital publishers (The New York Times). First, it embraced Donald Trump as an ally in Falun Gong’s fight against the Chinese Communist Party, and its once-staid political coverage became markedly partisan; campaign reporter Steve Klett said editors encouraged favorable Trump coverage, describing an almost messianic view of him as the anti-Communist leader who would end the Party (The New York Times). Second, it bet on Facebook: dozens of pages filled with viral content to sell subscriptions and drive traffic to partisan coverage, with a leaked April 2017 staff email envisioning The Epoch Times as “the world’s largest and most authoritative media” while introducing millions to Falun Gong’s teachings (The New York Times). It worked: tens of millions of social-media followers, an audience rivaling the Daily Caller and Breitbart, and a reporter’s question at an August 2020 White House press briefing (The New York Times). The growth carried a record of misinformation: the Times found the paper a leading promoter of “Spygate,” the baseless Obama-spying claim, while linked outlets pushed QAnon, distorted voter-fraud and Black Lives Matter claims, and the unfounded “CCP Virus” Chinese-lab bioweapon theory (The New York Times). Separately, NBC News found the outlet ran a pro-Trump advertising blitz using fake accounts, and Facebook later banned it from advertising for violating ad-transparency rules (NPR).

The nonprofit financial architecture and the $67 million fraud case

The most distinctive verified layer is financial: tax returns show the Epoch Times Association’s revenue jumping from under $15.5 million in 2019 to $121.5 million in 2021, around the time prosecutors say the laundering scheme began (NPR). Behind the newsroom sits a cluster of related nonprofits — the Epoch Times Association, the Epoch Public Foundation, and Universal Communications Network, which operates New Tang Dynasty Television (NPR). In 2021 the foundation closed the year with close to $21 million in cash (up from under $410,000) while reporting $20.5 million owed to the other two — which reported no such loans — and its returns omitted grants the others said they gave: a $4.68 million 2021 grant went unreported, and 2022’s $12 million-plus appeared as under $3.7 million with no related-organization grants disclosed (NPR). Nonprofit accounting experts consulted by NPR were blunt: Ohio State’s Brian Mittendorf called the returns “a hot mess,” Georgetown’s Brian Galle “fishy,” and Pittsburgh’s Philip Hackney the liabilities “baffling” (NPR). Guan was the foundation’s treasurer and tax-form signatory while Tang was its president (NPR). Those irregularities drew Accountable.US — described by NPR as a progressive watchdog monitoring right-wing organizations’ finances — which alerted NPR to the discrepancies and on June 13, 2024 filed an IRS complaint against the foundation and the association seeking a civil investigation of their 2021–2022 returns (NPR). The criminal case moved faster: the Southern District of New York charged Guan on June 3, 2024, alleging his foreign-office “Make Money Online” team used cryptocurrency to buy prepaid cards loaded with fraud proceeds, moving the money through tens of thousands of layered transactions — including accounts opened with stolen U.S. IDs — into organization accounts (NPR). Days later, founder-CEO John Zhong Tang resigned on June 7, an interim team took over, and Li Hongzhi posted two columns on the homepage (June 5 and June 8) scolding its leadership over the finances and partisan embrace (NPR). In 2026 Guan pleaded guilty before District Judge Victor Marrero to conspiring to engage in transactions involving criminal proceeds — admitting he bought crime proceeds at 70–80 cents on the dollar and laundered them back as fake “donations” after misleading banks that had flagged them — and agreed to forfeit at least $67 million and pay up to $67 million in restitution, facing up to 10 years; prosecutors stressed the conduct “does not relate to the Epoch Times’ newsgathering activities” (U.S. Department of Justice).

The three related nonprofits at a glance

NPR’s review of the filings identified three nonprofits in the Epoch orbit, each with its own anomalies (NPR):

Organization	Role in the orbit	What the 2021–2022 filings showed
Epoch Times Association	The main nonprofit behind the newspaper	Revenue under $15.5M (2019) → $121.5M (2021)
Epoch Public Foundation	Grant-making nonprofit tied to the operation	Ended 2021 with ~$21M cash while reporting $20.5M owed to the others; reported grant receipts didn’t match
Universal Communications Network	Nonprofit that operates New Tang Dynasty Television	Reported grants to the foundation that the foundation did not report receiving

Frequently asked questions

Is The Epoch Times affiliated with Falun Gong? The New York Times calls it Falun Gong-backed: founded by Falun Gong practitioners, with Li Hongzhi calling it and NTD “our media.” The outlet rejects this, describing itself as independent and nonpartisan. Its nonprofit network sits under Epoch Media Group. (The New York Times)

What happened to The Epoch Times’ CFO? Guan was charged in New York on June 3, 2024, over a scheme in which a “Make Money Online” team used crypto to buy prepaid cards loaded with fraud proceeds. In 2026 he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to forfeit $67 million. (NPR; U.S. Department of Justice)

What is New Tang Dynasty Television? NTD is the Epoch Times’ sister television organization, per the outlet’s own website; it is operated by Universal Communications Network, one of the three related nonprofits in the Epoch orbit. Li Hongzhi has called NTD and The Epoch Times “our media.” (NPR; The New York Times)

Did the outlet keep growing after the scandal? Media analyst Howard Polskin, who runs the newsletter The Righting, found the outlet drew 6,214,000 unique visitors in April 2024 — up 18% from four years earlier — while almost every other top-fifteen right-wing site lost traffic. Prosecutors allege part of its earlier revenue growth came from the fraud scheme. (NPR)

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not assert that Falun Gong owns The Epoch Times — the record supports “founded by practitioners” and “Falun Gong-backed,” while the outlet denies official affiliation, and both positions are reported without being resolved (The New York Times). It does not claim the IRS acted on the June 2024 Accountable.US complaint; only the filing is verified (NPR). It does not name current leadership, which no fully-read source verified beyond the post-Tang interim team (NPR). Guan’s sentencing is scheduled for December 4, 2026, per the DOJ’s canonical case page (last updated August 5, 2026), read in full during the day-15 reconciliation pass (U.S. Department of Justice); no outcome has been publicly reported. It does not treat the tax-return anomalies as proof of guilt beyond Guan’s admitted scheme — they are reported as flagged irregularities, and the DOJ noted the criminal conduct did not touch newsgathering (NPR; U.S. Department of Justice). Nor does it claim NTD Television is a subsidiary — the verified relationship is “sister organization,” operated by a related nonprofit (NPR).