On May 24, 2023, in the Southern District of New York, John Chen, a U.S. citizen and Lin Feng, a People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizen were charged with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as unregistered agents of the PRC Government, conspiring to bribe, bribing a public official, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, from January 2023 to May 2023, Chen and Feng allegedly engaged in a scheme directed by the PRC Government to manipulate the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Whistleblower Program in an effort to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners. After Chen filed a defective whistleblower complaint with the IRS, Chen and Feng paid $5,000 in cash bribes, and promised to pay substantially more, to a purported IRS agent who was an undercover officer, in exchange for assistance in advancing the compliant. During a meeting in Newburgh, New York, Chen gave the undercover officer a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe. Chen further offered to pay the undercover officer a total of $50,000 for opening an audit of Falun Gong practitioners, as well as 60 percent of any whistleblower award from the IRS if Chen’s whistleblower complaint was successful. Furthermore, Feng paid the undercover officer a $4,000 cash bribe at John F. Kennedy International Airport as an additional partial bribe payment in furtherance of the scheme. 

If convicted, Chen and Feng could each receive a maximum term of five years’ imprisonment for count one, 10 years’ imprisonment for count two, 15 years’ imprisonment for count three, and 20 years’ imprisonment for count four. 

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: DOJ Press Release, published May 26, 2023; and S.D.N.Y. Complaint, filed May 24, 2023.