Two Chinese nationals living in Los Angeles have admitted to serving as unregistered agents of the Chinese government while attempting to bribe an IRS official.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, John Chen, 71, and Lin Feng, 44, tried to bribe an undercover officer they thought was an IRS agent to revoke the tax-exempt status of Falun Gong, a U.S.-based new religious movement.
The scheme was first reported by Seamus Hughes’ Court Watch.
Falun Gong, perhaps best known for the Shen Yun dance performances and news outlet The Epoch Times, opposes the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the country.
Making multiple payments of several thousand dollars each and promising at least $50,000 if an audit were opened, Chen and Feng worked with government officials from the People’s Republic of China to “carry out the PRC government’s aim of ‘toppl[ing] . . . the Falun Gong,'” prosecutors wrote.
Chen and Feng each pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government and one count of bribing a public official.
Chen and Feng will be sentenced in late October, and each faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
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