U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Roman sentenced Lin Feng, a 44-year-old Green Card holder based in California, to 16 months in prison for his involvement in Beijing’s transnational repression campaign in the United States. Lin pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese communist regime and bribing an IRS agent as part of a plot targeting Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S.
Working alongside U.S. citizen John Chen, Lin attempted to revoke the nonprofit status of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts under the direction of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official. They tried to bribe the IRS with $50,000 to achieve their goal.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a music and dance company that aims to revive traditional Chinese culture while highlighting human rights abuses by the CCP, including the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
During his sentencing hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Lin expressed remorse and distanced himself from Chen, who allegedly communicated with a Chinese official during their repression campaign.
Lin will serve 16 months in prison, which is equal to his time spent in detention since his arrest in May 2023. He will also be subject to three years of supervised release and forfeit $50,000—the value of the bribe.
Chen had also attempted bribery by trying to advance a defective whistleblower complaint through what he believed was an IRS agent but was actually a Treasury Department law enforcement officer.
According to court filings, Lin and Chen manipulated the IRS Whistleblower Program through bribery and deceit with submissions that contained rhetoric similar to CCP propaganda against Falun Gong members.
The U.S. attorney for Southern District New York noted that Falun Gong practitioners are considered one of China’s top threats by its communist regime and face repressive measures as a result.
The sentencing comes amidst ongoing efforts by foreign influences on American soil attempting transnational repression campaigns against critics of China’s government. The Justice Department has been actively prosecuting Chinese agents involved in such schemes recently.
