by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 15 – Amid the US v. Miles Guo trial, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York on June 3 announced they are charging "WEIDONG GUAN, a/k/a 'Bill Guan,' the Chief Financial Officer of a multinational media company headquartered in New York City with participating in a transnational scheme to launder at least approximately $67 million of illegally obtained funds to benefit himself and the media company. GUAN was arrested yesterday morning and will be presented this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron."
The media company is Epoch Times. And before Judge Aaron in the SDNY Magistrates Court, which Inner City Press closely covers, unlike in the Guo and Wang case, a bail deal was reached:
"$3,000,000 personal recognizance bond; To be secured by $250,000 cash; To be co-signed by three financially responsible persons (Not employees of media company or related entities)
Inner City Press went to cover the conference on June 21. The prosecutors told Judge Marrero they seized 50 devices and are imaging them. The Federal Defender said "Mr. Guan may be retaining counsel." So Judge Marrero set the next conference for September 20.
Then the prosecutors asked for a trial date, which was put back to March 2025.
On September 13, Guan's lawyer wrote in citing 900 GB of discovery, asking to postpone September 20 to December 6.
On November 15, Inner City Press heard of an extradition in from South Korea, of Le Van Hung. A Vietnamese interpreter was found; Inner City Press was the only media - the only civilian - in the courtroom for the presentation. Thread:
Defendant is brought out, slight build, intepretation headphones.
All rise! Judge Ona T. Wang: Date of arrest? AUSA Dell: He was extradicted in frim South Korea this morning. Judge: How do you plead? Defendant: Not guilty. AUSA: We seek detention; they consent without prejudice.
Judge: Time excluded to next conference.
Inner City Press will stay on it.
The case is US v. Guan, 24-cr-322 (Marrero / Aaron)
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