Chinese Agents Fail to Bribe IRS Agent

Everybody wants to be a whistleblower now.  A federal court unsealed charges against two Los Angeles residents Friday for their involvement in an alleged bribery scheme directed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), marking another chapter in the ongoing confrontation between the United States and China over transnational repression tactics.

John Chen, aka Chen Jun, 70, a former PRC citizen, and Lin Feng, a PRC citizen, are accused of acting as unregistered agents of the PRC in the U.S. The charges, which also include bribery of a public official and conspiracy to commit money laundering, were announced by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.

Both Chen and Feng were arrested today in the Central District of California. The pair allegedly played key roles in a PRC Government-directed scheme to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned in China.

"The Chinese government has once again attempted, and failed, to target critics of the PRC here in the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute efforts by the PRC government to extend the reaches of its regime onto U.S. soil."

According to the complaint, the scheme revolved around the manipulation of the IRS's Whistleblower Program to attack an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners. After filing a whistleblower complaint with the IRS, Chen and Feng allegedly paid $5,000 in cash bribes, and promised to pay substantially more, to an individual they believed to be an IRS agent. Unbeknownst to them, the "agent" was an undercover law enforcement officer.

The accused pair allegedly discussed receiving instructions from a PRC government official, who was said to be "in charge" of the bribery scheme. They also allegedly met with the undercover officer in New York, delivering initial bribe payments.

Each defendant is charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, bribing a public official, and conspiring to commit international money laundering. If convicted, they could face a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.

[Complaint]