Two LA residents charged for Falun Gong plot

Two Los Angeles residents have been charged with acting in a Beijing-directed scheme targeting US-based practitioners of the Falun Gong group that is outlawed in China, the US Justice Department said on Friday.

John Chen, also known as Chen Jun, and Lin Feng were arrested in California over allegations they supported Chinese efforts to strip the tax-exempt status of a US entity run by Falun Gong practitioners, the department said in a statement.

The department described the scheme as part of a broader campaign by China’s government to target its US-based critics. The charges were announced a month after federal agents arrested two New York residents on suspicion of operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown district.

A complaint against Mr Chen and Mr Lin was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, the department said. Reuters was not immediately able to reach them or their lawyers for comment. China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately provide comment.

Mr Chen and Mr Lin in 2023 attempted to bribe an undercover federal agent acting as a US tax official to advance a complaint that would strip the Falun Gong entity’s federal tax exemption, the department said.

The two paid US$5,000 (174,000 baht) in cash bribes and promised to pay more to advance the complaint with the Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Program, it said.

The bribes were intended to carry out China’s aim of “toppling ... the Falun Gong”, the department quoted Mr Chen as saying on an intercepted call.