Chinese Agent Sentenced in US for Involvement in CCP’s Persecution of Falun Gong
The prosecutor highlighted the gravity of the man’s actions, describing him as the ‘right hand man’ in a plot to further Beijing’s transnational repression campaign.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Roman sentenced one of the conspirators aiding Beijing’s transnational repression campaign in the United States to 16 months in prison on Sept. 26.
Lin collaborated with U.S. citizen John Chen, 70, under the guidance of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official to revoke the nonprofit status of the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. They attempted to bribe the IRS with $50,000 to accomplish this objective.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a company that showcases traditional Chinese culture through music and dance performances. The organization also sheds light on human rights violations by the Chinese communist regime, including the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, a meditation practice targeted by the CCP since 1999.
Lin expressed regret during the sentencing hearing and distanced himself from Chen, a local Chinese community leader with alleged frequent interaction with a Chinese official during the repression campaign.
“I apologize for my actions,” Lin stated at Thursday’s hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “Regardless of intention, right is right and wrong is wrong.”
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Chen attempted to bribe a Treasury Department law enforcement officer he believed to be an IRS agent to advance a faulty whistleblower complaint.
Lin and Chen tried to manipulate the IRS Whistleblower Program by using bribery and deceit in order to strip Shen Yun Performing Arts, managed by Falun Gong practitioners, of its tax-exempt status according to court documents.
Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, highlighted in a Sept. 19 sentencing memo that the Chinese communist regime considered Falun Gong practitioners a significant threat to its authority, subjecting them to various repressive measures.
Williams mentioned that Chen and Lin’s actions were part of a campaign to harass, intimidate, disrupt, and repress Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong practitioners take part in a parade for the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival holiday in Brooklyn’s Chinatown neighborhood in New York City on Sept. 14, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
“Efforts to stifle free speech by targeting critics of the PRC in the U.S. will not be tolerated. This Office is dedicated to thwarting malicious attempts at transnational repression by foreign actors on American soil,” Williams stated in a July 25 announcement.
“I learned that Chen has ties to important figures in the Chinese government and businesses while working together,” Lin stated, adding that he occasionally overheard conversations between Chen and individuals in China expressing intentions to harm Falun Gong.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams addresses the media in New York City, on Nov. 2, 2023. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Lin acknowledged giving $4,000 in cash to an undercover agent at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
This cash was part of a down payment promised to the agent for advancing the whistleblower complaint.
Chen informed the undercover agent, who had already received $1,000, that Lin would make two more trips to New York to deliver two additional cash payments of $25,000 each, according to the Sept. 19 sentencing memo.
Chen mentioned that the Chinese leadership was “very generous,” as stated in court records.
Prosecutors stressed the severity of Lin’s actions on Sept. 26 before the judge delivered the verdict, portraying Lin as the “right-hand man” in an “outrageous scheme” orchestrated at the “behest of the CCP.”
