Shocker: Grifters Support Trump!

A Disinformation Empire Ran on Crime Profits

Wow, I can’t believe it. The Epoch Times, one of Trump’s loudest supporters in the MAGA world, turns out to be scam! Who could have known?

c. Elvert Barnes

---

For those of you lucky enough to not know¹, the Epoch Times started as a thin little giveaway newspaper for Chinese anti-communists in the Falun Gong cult. But the newspaper latched on to Trump and grew with him, captivating MAGA with spectacularly obvious lies, conspiracy theories, and heroic headlines. With aggressive and deceptive Facebook tactics, it sucked in millions in donations. The “non-profit” branched into television, put up billboards across America (“The #1 Most Trusted News”), and got special access to Trump while he was President.

Oops, it was all a fraud. The Epoch Times leadership ran a “sprawling, transnational scheme” to launder money for criminals, and walked away with at least $67 million in profits—most of which it used to bolster its pro-Trump agenda. (Don’t worry, the CFO pocketed $16 million for himself.)

Who could have guessed…

---

---

SOURCES

AP on the fall of Epoch Times: https://apnews.com/article/epoch-times-conservative-trump-money-laundering-543d184d378e570683e7d10326973240

The criminal scheme, in the LA Times via Apple News: https://apple.news/AfIWAQGZ1TDSE1NcjLElO4g

NYT on the rise of this pro-Trump disinformation superspreader: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/technology/epoch-times-influence-falun-gong.html

1. “When I split an infinitive, goddammit, I split it so it will stay split.” — Raymond Chandler