The U.S. accuses two in Beijing-directed Falun Gong targeting On Friday. The Justice Department charged two Los Angeles residents with participating in a Beijing-directed plot to target U.S. Falun Gong practitioners.
The government said John Chen, also known as Chen Jun, and Lin Feng were arrested in California for supporting Chinese efforts to withdraw the tax-exempt status of a Falun Gong-run U.S. corporation.
The department labeled the program part of China’s assault against its U.S. opponents. The allegations came a month after federal officials detained two New Yorkers for running a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
The government said Chen and Lin were sued in federal court in the Southern District of New York. They and their lawyers were unavailable for comment to Reuters. Washington’s Chinese embassy didn’t respond.
The government said Chen and Lin tried to bribe an undercover federal agent posing as a U.S. tax officer in 2023 to file a complaint to revoke Falun Gong’s federal tax exemption.
It alleged the two paid $5,000 in cash bribes and pledged to pay much more to progress the IRS Whistleblower Program complaint.
Chen told the department on an intercepted phone that the bribes were meant to “topple… the Falun Gong.” Removing its exempt status would raise its federal tax bill.
China outlawed Falun Gong in 1999 after 10,000 members silently protested at the central leadership complex in Beijing. The group urges Chinese Communist Party renunciation.
China calls the group a cult that undermines stability.
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