WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—A Chinese agent who tried to bribe the IRS and manipulate the agency into advancing Beijing’s transnational repression against a U.S. nonprofit has received a 20-month prison sentence.
U.S. citizen John Chen, 72, was a principal actor in a $50,000 bribery scheme under the direction of a Chinese intelligence official to revoke the nonprofit status of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Shen Yun has long been on the Chinese regime’s target list. Founded in 2006, the company tours around the world each year to display the ancient Chinese culture that prevailed before the communist takeover of China, while highlighting the human rights abuses under the regime’s rule. It has often drawn attention to the ongoing persecution of the meditation group Falun Gong….