Over the past decade, the dance group Shen Yun Performing Arts has made money at a staggering rate.

在过去的十年里，神韵艺术团赚钱的速度十分惊人。

The group had $60 million in 2015.

2015年，该艺术团资产为6000万美元。

It had $144 million by 2019.

到2019年，这个数字已经达到1.44亿美元。

And by the end of last year, tax records show, it had more than a quarter of a billion dollars, stockpiling wealth at a pace that would be extraordinary for any company, let alone a nonprofit dance group from Orange County, N.Y.

税务记录显示，截至去年年底，该团体的资产已超过2.5亿美元，财富积累速度之快对于任何公司来说都是非同寻常的，何况这只是一个来自纽约州奥兰治县的非营利舞蹈团体。

Operated by Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese religious movement, Shen Yun’s success flows in part from its ability to pack venues worldwide — while exploiting young, low-paid performers with little regard for their health or well-being.

神韵由遭受迫害的中国宗教团体法轮功主办，它的成功部分归功于能够在全球各地吸引大量观众，与此同时剥削年轻、低薪的表演者，几乎不考虑他们的健康和福祉。

But it also is a token of the power that Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, has wielded over his followers. In the name of fighting communism, and obeying Mr. Li’s mystical teachings, they have created a global network to glorify him and enrich his movement.

但这也体现了法轮功创始人李洪志对其追随者的强大影响力。他们以反共产主义和遵循李洪志神秘教义的名义建立了一个全球网络，对其进行颂扬，并给其团体带来财富。

Under Mr. Li’s direct leadership, Shen Yun has become a repository of vast wealth for Falun Gong, often accumulating money at the expense of its loyal adherents, a New York Times investigation has found.

《纽约时报》调查发现，在李洪志的直接领导下，神韵已成为法轮功的一座金库，常常以牺牲忠实信徒的利益为代价来敛财。

It has raked in funds through ticket sales — nearly $39 million in 2023 alone — but also by using religious fealty to command the free labor of its followers. It has received tens of millions of dollars more in ways that may have crossed legal or ethical lines, The Times found.

该组织不仅通过门票销售筹集资金（仅2023年门票收益就达到了近3900万美元），还利用宗教忠诚来要求其信徒免费劳动。《纽约时报》发现，该组织还以可能越过了法律或道德界限的方式获得了数千万美元。

In one case, Shen Yun and a school that trains its dancers received $16 million from The Epoch Times, a newspaper run by Falun Gong followers, during a period when federal prosecutors said the publication’s accounts were inflated in a money-laundering conspiracy.

其中一案是神韵艺术团和一家培训其舞蹈演员的学校从《大纪元时报》获得了1600万美元的资助，这份报纸是法轮功信徒运营的，当时联邦检察官称其通过洗钱共谋得到了大笔资金。

Shen Yun and a network of satellite organizations added more wealth by skirting rules to tap tens of millions of dollars in pandemic-era relief money.

神韵及其外围组织网络通过规避法规，从疫情期间的救济款中获取了数千万美元的资金，从而增加了更多财富。

And three former Shen Yun performers told The Times that they were used to ferry large amounts of cash into the United States, a possible attempt to circumvent laws about reporting U.S. currency transactions.

三名前神韵表演者告诉《纽约时报》，该组织利用他们将大量现金带到美国，这可能是为了规避有关报告美国货币交易的法律。

Shen Yun has kept its own costs down by wringing countless volunteer hours, and sometimes personal savings, from followers of Mr. Li, who has suggested he created the universe and instructed believers that Shen Yun performances can save people from a coming apocalypse by exposing them to his teachings.

神韵通过从李洪志的追随者身上榨取大量志愿劳动，有时甚至还有个人积蓄，以达到降低自己成本的目的。李洪志声称他创造了宇宙，并教导信徒们，他们可以通过神韵演出来接触到他的教义，从而让他们可以免遭即将到来的世界末日的折磨。

Eager to heed Mr. Li, the followers have borne most of the financial burden for staging hundreds of Shen Yun shows around the world, including paying out of their own pockets to book venues, print fliers, buy advertising and sell tickets — even going into debt to cover upfront costs.

追随者们热切地听从李洪志的教诲，承担了在世界各地举办数以百计场神韵演出的大部分财务支出，包括自掏腰包预订场地、印刷传单、购买广告和出售门票——甚至为了支付前期费用而举债。

前法轮功修炼者高晓敏表示，追随者受到李洪志教义的影响，慷慨地为该运动捐款。

“They all think — including me before — we all think it is an important part of the path to godhood,” said Simone Gao, a former practitioner and Falun Gong media personality. “If you devote time, energy and money to this cause, the reward is incomparable to what you get in this world.”

“他们都认为——包括我以前也这么认为——这是得道之路上的重要组成部分，”前法轮功修炼者、法轮功媒体名人高晓敏说。“如果你为这个事业投入时间、精力和金钱，那么你得到回报的将是在这个世界上得到的东西所无法比拟的。”

It was not clear why Shen Yun has amassed so much money, or why nearly all of its assets — $249 million in 2023 — were kept in cash and other liquid instruments. Experts said it was unusual for a nonprofit not to invest such sums unless they were needed for significant short-term expenses, which Shen Yun has not seemed to have incurred.

目前尚不清楚神韵为何能积累如此多的资金，也不清楚为何其几乎所有资产（2023年为2.49亿美元）都以现金和其他流动工具的形式保存。专家表示，非营利组织不将如此多的资金用于投资的情况很不寻常，除非需要用于大额的短期开支，而神韵似乎没有过这样的开支。

Shen Yun’s representatives declined to answer questions about its finances. In the past, Mr. Li has said large sums of money were needed to battle the Chinese Communist Party, which has banned the movement and repressed its followers since the 1990s.

神韵的代表拒绝回答有关其财务的问题。李洪志过去曾表示，需要大量资金来对抗中国共产党。自1990年代以来，中共一直禁止法轮功运动，并镇压其追随者。

“For over 25 years, Falun Gong practitioners have struggled to peacefully resist persecution from the largest totalitarian regime on earth, and Shen Yun is a key part of that effort,” a Shen Yun spokeswoman, Ying Chen, said in a statement to The Times. “Your attempts to brand Shen Yun as a grand moneymaking scheme are shocking and deeply offensive.”

“25年来，法轮功学员一直在艰难地以和平的方式抵抗地球上最大极权政权的迫害，而神韵是这项努力的重要组成部分，”神韵发言人陈颖（音）在发给《纽约时报》的一份声明中说。“你们试图把神韵刻画成一个巨大的赚钱骗局，这令人震惊，也令人深感冒犯。”

Ms. Chen accused The Times of making “gross distortions or blatant factual errors,” but she declined to elaborate.

陈颖指责《纽约时报》“严重歪曲事实，犯下明显事实错误”，但她拒绝详细说明。

As Shen Yun has amassed wealth, its supporters have purchased real estate for Mr. Li’s movement, including Falun Gong’s 400-acre headquarters, known as Dragon Springs, which is about 60 miles northwest of New York City.

随着神韵积累巨额财富，其支持者为李洪志的法轮功购买了房地产，其中包括该团体的那座占地400英亩的总部，位于纽约市西北约60英里处的龙泉寺。

They have also subsidized the lifestyle of Mr. Li, now in his early 70s, and his wife, Li Rui, a top manager in Shen Yun.

他们的钱还被现年70岁出头的李洪志和他的妻子、神韵总管李瑞用于维持他们的生活方式。

One follower gave the movement her life savings before dying of cancer, virtually penniless.

一名因癌症去世的追随者临终前将自己一生的积蓄都捐给了该运动，离世时几乎身无分文。

In recent years, Mr. Li and his aides have found yet another way to make money through Shen Yun. They have created companies that market products directly to Falun Gong followers, like a Tang Elegance necklace with a spessartite garnet for $3,850, Heavenly Phoenix earrings for $925, a $35 ornament of the Shen Yun tour bus and Shen Yun-branded athleisure clothing.

近年来，李洪志和他的助手们又找到了另一种通过神韵赚钱的方法。他们成立了公司，直接向法轮功信徒销售产品，比如一条镶有锰铝榴石的唐丽风韵项链售价3850美元，一对凤舞天韵耳环售价925美元，一件神韵巡演巴士挂饰售价35美元，还有神韵品牌的运动休闲服饰。

Practitioners have been told they should purchase the most up-to-date Falun Gong clothing for public events, including a reversible blue-and-yellow jacket for $120.

法轮功修炼者被告知，他们应该购买最新款式的法轮功服装来参加公共活动，包括一件价值120美元的蓝黄色双面夹克。

Business records show that Mr. Li personally started an online video platform that charges $199.99 a year for a subscription to watch Shen Yun performances. His associates also created another video platform, Gan Jing World, which was accused by YouTube in a lawsuit this month of stealing content. The platform has not filed a response to the suit.

商业记录显示，李洪志亲自创建了一个在线视频平台，观看神韵演出的订阅费为199.99美元/年。他的助手们还创建了另一个视频平台“干净世界”，YouTube本月起诉该平台窃取内容，其尚未对诉讼做出回应。

Practitioners were urged to subscribe to help “Master” — as Mr. Li is known — save more souls, emails show. Many did just that, former followers said.

电子邮件显示，他们敦促修炼者订阅，以帮助“师父”李洪志拯救更多灵魂。前信徒说，许多人确实这么做了。

前法轮功修炼者罗布·格雷多年来一直协助神韵的宣传和营销，法轮功学员将此视为神圣使命的一部分。

“People gave up their life’s savings, and this happened so often,” said Rob Gray, a former practitioner in London who spent 15 years working on Falun Gong projects. “There’s a constant theme now to fleece practitioners, to take money. Where is this profit going to?”

“人们拿出了一生的积蓄，这种事情经常发生，”曾在伦敦从事法轮功相关项目15年的前修炼者罗布·格雷说。“现在，敲诈修炼者、骗取钱财是常有的事。这些利润都流向哪里了？”

A Winning Strategy

 致胜策略

From the start, Shen Yun has pursued a winning strategy for reaping huge profits: It has gotten other people to shoulder the costs of putting on its shows.

从一开始，神韵就奉行了一种获取巨额利润的制胜策略：让别人承担演出的成本。

Although the group has a stated mission of reviving traditional Chinese culture while “providing audiences everywhere with an experience of beauty,” it does not routinely pay for the billboards, television ads or fliers depicting Shen Yun’s dancers leaping through the air that are ubiquitous in cities around the world. Nor does it generally cover the costs of venues, ticket sales or hotels and meals for performers.

尽管神韵艺术团宣称其使命是复兴中国传统文化，同时“为世界各地的观众提供美的体验”，但它通常不会为世界各地城市随处可见的展示神韵舞蹈演员腾空表演的广告牌、电视广告或传单付费。该团体通常也不会承担场地、门票销售或表演者食宿的费用。

That burden has fallen on a network of smaller satellite organizations that Mr. Li and his aides have encouraged followers to form around the world.

这个重担落到了李洪志及其助手鼓励其追随者在世界各地建立的、由较小外围组织组成的网络身上。

神韵艺术团本月再次开启最新一次世界巡演。上个巡演季，神韵艺术团在五大洲演出了800多场。

Known as presenters, the organizations were incorporated as nonprofits in the United States, operating in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other cities.

这些被称为“主办方”的组织在美国是非营利组织，在亚特兰大、洛杉矶、费城和其他城市开展业务。

The nonprofits are staffed by practitioners who work as unpaid volunteers and have agreed to “bear the responsibility for all costs incurred” and be liable for losses, claims “and expenses of every kind and description” related to staging Shen Yun shows in their areas, according to a contract reviewed by The Times.

根据《纽约时报》审阅的一份合同，这些非营利组织的工作人员都是无偿志愿工作的法轮功修炼者，他们同意“承担所产生的所有费用”，并对在他们所在地区举办神韵演出的亏损、索赔和“各种名目的费用”负责。

Every year, the groups collectively spend millions of dollars and keep only enough in ticket sales to cover their expenses, sending every penny of profit back to Shen Yun.

每年，这些团体总共花费数百万美元，它们从票房中得到的分成仅够收回成本，每一分利润都返给了神韵。

In 2018, a satellite organization in Georgia, the Falun Dafa Association of Atlanta, spent $1,621,011 on advertising, hotel rooms, food, transportation, venue fees and other expenses, tax records show. The group earned $2,077,507, mostly from seven Shen Yun performances in Atlanta. The Atlanta nonprofit kept $1,621,011 and sent the remaining money — $456,496 — to Shen Yun.

税务记录显示，2018年，佐治亚州的外围组织亚特兰大法轮大法协会在广告、酒店客房、餐饮、交通、场地和其他费用上花费了1621011美元。该组织收入2077507美元，主要来自在亚特兰大的七场神韵演出。这家亚特兰大非营利组织留下了1621011美元，并将剩余的456496美元汇给了神韵。

If a satellite organization should spend more money than it earns, it still sends money to Shen Yun — and it falls on the people who run the groups to make up the difference.

如果某个外围组织花的钱比赚的多，它还是会把钱交给神韵——亏缺的部分就由管理这些组织的人来补上。

At the Indiana Falun Dafa Association, local followers made loans to the satellite organization for a decade. In 2018, eight of them lent a combined $375,000 without any loan agreements and at zero percent interest, tax filings show. One of the lenders, the group’s president, handed over $130,000 on his own.

在印第安纳州法轮大法协会，当地信徒向该外围组织提供借款长达十年之久。税务文件显示，2018年，其中八人在没有任何借款协议的情况下，以零利率借出了总计37.5万美元。其中一名出借人，也就是该组织的主席，一个人就借出了13万美元。

The satellite organization paid Shen Yun $169,233.39 to put on three shows that February, records show, but did not make enough to repay the loans. They appear to have been settled only years later, using government grants.

记录显示，该外围组织向神韵支付了169233.39美元，用于在当年2月举办的三场演出，但神韵的收入不足以还清借款。这些借款似乎是几年后使用政府拨款才还清的。

Inside the local organizations, practitioners can feel immense pressure to deliver for Mr. Li, who has taught that success in selling Shen Yun tickets is an indicator of how devoted they are to his teachings.

在地方组织内部，信徒会感受到为李洪志完成任务的巨大压力，他曾教导说，从神韵门票销售的好坏能看出他们对神韵教义有多虔诚。

神韵的市场推广无处不在，其经费来自当地的信徒，他们作为志愿者为神韵演出做宣传。

He has also urged followers to advertise only in “well-to-do” areas and to set high prices for Falun Gong dance shows.

他还敦促弟子只在“富裕”地区做广告，并为法轮功舞蹈表演开出高价。

“Getting things for nothing,” Mr. Li said, “wouldn’t conform to this dimension’s principles.”

“不劳而获“，李洪志说，“不符合这个维度的原则”。

Ahead of shows in the San Francisco area, followers would gather on Saturday nights to study Mr. Li’s writings and share how many Shen Yun tickets they had sold, according to a former practitioner who asked to be identified only by her last name, Wang.

据一位只愿透露姓王（音）的前信徒称，在旧金山地区演出之前，追随者们会在周六晚上聚集在一起研究李洪志的著作，并分享他们卖出了多少张神韵门票。

Selling as many tickets as possible was seen as a way to accumulate more virtue, she said.

她说，卖出尽可能多的门票被视为积累更多美德的一种方式。

And in London in March 2023, a note of panic crept into an “urgent” email sent by a practitioner named Sharon Xu to other followers in the area. She was seeking their help with leafleting, she wrote, because the show was approaching and thousands of tickets were still unsold.

在2023年3月的伦敦，一位名叫莎伦·徐（音）的信徒向该地区的其他追随者发送了一封“紧急”电子邮件，言语中流露出一丝恐慌。她在邮件中写道，因为演出临近，但仍有数千张门票未售出，她希望他们帮忙发传单。

“We are at a crucial stage in Shen Yun promotion,” she wrote. “Thousands of predestined people whom Master wants to save have yet to connect with us, and there are only literally days remaining this year.”

“我们正处于神韵推广的关键阶段，”她写道。“成千上万师父希望拯救的有缘人还没有与我们联系上，而今年真的只剩下几天时间了。”

‘All Her Money Is Gone’

 “她的钱已经用光了”

For all the time and money that the operators of the satellite organizations provided, some gave much more to the movement — and to Mr. Li himself.

外围组织的经营者为法轮功运动和李洪志本人付出了大量的时间和金钱，而有些人的付出还远不止这些。

In 2006, one of Shen Yun’s first performers began traveling from his home in Maryland to Falun Gong’s headquarters along with his sister, also a performer, and their mother, a devoted practitioner. Soon, they all moved to Dragon Springs, known among followers as the mountain, to focus on dancing.

2006年，神韵的第一批舞者之一开始从马里兰州的家中前往法轮功总部，同行的还有他同是舞者的姐姐和他们的母亲，一名虔诚的信徒。不久，他们都搬到了被信徒称为“山上”的龙泉，专注于跳舞。

The man, whom The Times is identifying by his first name, Liang, and his sister eventually left Shen Yun and moved away. But their mother remained on the mountain, working unpaid for years as a top aide to Mr. and Ms. Li and as a bookkeeper for the dance group.

本文中只使用他的名字Liang，他和姐姐最终离开了神韵，搬到了别处。但他们的母亲仍留在山上，多年来一直无偿担任李洪志和李瑞的高级助手以及舞团的记账员。

She left the area only rarely, such as for Liang’s wedding in 2014, he would later write in an email to friends. That same year, she and her husband sold the house they had owned in Maryland since the 1980s for $485,000, records show.

他后来在给朋友的一封电子邮件中写道，母亲只有少数情况下会离开那里，比如2014年参加Liang的婚礼。记录显示，同年，她和丈夫以48.5万美元的价格卖掉了他们自20世纪80年代起就在马里兰州拥有的房子。

神韵演员在纽约州卡德贝克维尔法轮功总部接受培训。

Soon after, she began spending money for Shen Yun, her family would later learn. After Mr. Li remarked that Shen Yun’s orchestra should use only the best pianos, Liang’s mother arranged for the purchase of $260,000 in premium models, according to another email her son sent and other records reviewed by The Times.

不久之后，她开始为神韵花钱，这是她的家人后来才知道的。根据她儿子发送的另一封电子邮件和时报查阅的其他记录，在李洪志表示神韵的乐团只能用最好的钢琴后，她安排购买了价值26万美元的上等钢琴。

Other gifts and donations followed, including thousands of dollars in payments for Wi-Fi hot spots and domain names and monthly payments for Mr. and Ms. Li’s cellphone bills to Verizon, according to the records, Liang’s emails and people familiar with the events.

根据记录、Liang的电子邮件和知情人士的说法，其他礼物和捐款也接踵而至，包括用于购买Wi-Fi热点和域名的数千美元，以及帮李洪志和李瑞结清Verizon公司的手机账单。

Mr. Li teaches that diligently practicing his meditation exercises and reading his texts keeps the body healthy by purging the bad karma that causes illness. So Liang’s mother did not see a doctor when she began losing weight and becoming increasingly haggard around 2018.

李洪志教导说，勤练禅功，多读他的经书，可以清除致病的恶业，保持身体健康。因此，当Liang的妈妈在2018年前后开始消瘦、日渐憔悴时，她没有去看医生。

By the fall of 2019, she was 66 years old and down to 70 pounds. Shocked at her appearance during a video call, her family finally persuaded her to get medical care.

到2019年秋天，66岁的她体重降到了70磅。家人在视频通话中对她的样子感到震惊，最终说服她接受治疗。

The diagnosis was dire: kidney cancer that had spread through her body, leaving her with small odds of survival and tens of thousands of dollars in expected medical costs. She told Liang and his sister that she would not be able to pay for any of it.

诊断结果很严重：肾癌已经扩散全身，存活几率很小，预计需要数万美元的医疗费用。她告诉儿子和女儿，她无力支付这些费用。

“My mom revealed that all her money is gone, donated to the mountain,” Liang emailed his friends on Oct. 15, 2019. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“我妈告诉我，她的钱已经用光了，都捐给山上了，”Liang在2019年10月15日给朋友的邮件中写道。“几十万美元。”

As their mother was slipping away, Liang and his sister got another shock. An employee in the Shen Yun office accidentally mailed them a statement for their mother’s credit card, which showed charges from Saks Fifth Avenue and other shops. They reviewed more statements and discovered that her accounts had been used to buy tens of thousands of dollars in luxury items, apparently for Mr. Li and his wife.

就在母亲即将离世的时候，他和姐姐又受到了一次打击。神韵办公室的一名员工无意中给他们邮寄了母亲信用卡的对账单，上面显示了萨克斯第五大道和其他商店的消费记录。他们查看了更多对账单，发现母亲的账户被用来购买数万美元的奢侈品，显然是为李洪志和他的妻子购买的。

The statements showed a $13,029.70 charge from the Watch Gallery in London and $10,000 for virgin wool suits and other clothing from Hugo Boss. They showed $2,045.31 in purchases at the luxury retailer Hermès in Austria and another $1,091.99 at the jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels in Switzerland.

对账单显示，在伦敦Watch Gallery消费了13029.70美元，在Hugo Boss支付10000美元购买初剪羊毛套装和其他服装。账单显示，在奥地利的爱马仕店花了2045.31美元，在瑞士的梵克雅宝珠宝店消费了1091.99美元。

一名法轮功学员的信用卡账单显示，数万美元的支付显然是在为法轮功创始人、他的妻子和神韵买单。

They showed thousands more spent on seafood and custom billiard cues — Mr. Li is an avid pool player — and assorted charges from high-end brands including Ferragamo and Tiffany & Company. Ms. Li appeared to have personally used his mother’s credit card, Liang wrote to his friends in an email.

账单还显示，李洪志在海鲜和定制台球杆（他是一名狂热的台球玩家）上花费了数以千计美元，还有向菲拉格慕和蒂芙尼在内的高端品牌支付的各种费用。Liang在一封电子邮件中写道，李瑞本人似乎在使用他母亲的信用卡。

Many of the charges were made in 2018 and 2019, as Liang’s mother’s health was failing, records show.

记录显示，许多支付是在2018年和2019年做出的，当时Liang的母亲的健康状况正在恶化。

Within weeks of seeing a doctor, Liang’s mother was dead.

他的母亲在看完医生后的几周内就去世了。

Afterward, a portion of the money was repaid to her family, people familiar with the events said, though the source of the repayment was not clear.

知情人士说，事后，她的家人收到了部分还款，但不清楚那些钱来自哪里。

Shen Yun’s spokeswoman, Ms. Chen, said The Times’s account of these events was “inaccurate and misleading in numerous respects.” She said the details were subject to a confidentiality agreement, which she called “a carefully negotiated resolution of a misunderstanding.”

神韵发言人陈女士称，时报对这些事件的报道“在许多方面都是不准确和有误导性的”。她说，这些细节受保密协议的约束，她称协议是“就一场误解进行了细致协商后的结果”。

The experience left Liang convinced that the movement was preying on people like his mother, who gave willingly in hopes of receiving a heavenly reward.

这段经历让Liang坚信，法轮功运动是在掠夺像他母亲这样的人，他们心甘情愿地奉献，希望得到上天的奖赏。

“For the first time in my life, I’m seeing things as how they truly are,” he wrote in one of his emails. “I’m not going to let this happen to anyone that I care about ever again.”

“这是我有生以来第一次看到事情的真面目，”他在一封邮件中写道。“我不会再让这种事发生在我关心的人身上。”

Envelopes of Cash

现金信封

To track the flow of money into Shen Yun, The Times reviewed more than 15 years’ worth of tax filings for the main nonprofit and dozens of its satellite organizations.

为了追踪神韵的资金流向，时报查阅了这家主要非营利组织及其数十家外围机构超过15年的纳税申报资料。

Reporters also examined hundreds of pages of internal Shen Yun-related records and communications and interviewed people with knowledge of the organization’s financial dealings, including some who were directly involved in organizing shows.

记者们还查阅了数以百计与神韵有关的内部记录和通信，并采访了解该组织财务交易的人，其中包括一些直接参与组织演出的人。

The dance group and a school that trains its performers received about $16 million from The Epoch Times, the right-leaning news organization founded by followers of Mr. Li, during a period when federal prosecutors said the news outlet’s accounts were inflated by the proceeds of a money-laundering scheme.

神韵和培训演员的学校还从《大纪元时报》获得了约1600万美元，联邦检察官称，在此期间，该新闻机构的银行账户汇入了大笔通过洗钱共谋得到的资金。这家右倾新闻机构是由李洪志的追随者创办的。

Prosecutors charged The Epoch Times’s chief financial officer, Bill Guan, and an employee in Vietnam with conspiracy to launder at least $67 million using cryptocurrency in a scheme that involved identity theft and prepaid bank cards. Mr. Guan has pleaded not guilty.

检察官指控《大纪元时报》首席财务官关伟东和越南的一名雇员共谋利用加密货币洗钱至少6700万美元，其中涉及身份盗窃和预付银行卡。关伟东拒绝认罪。

The Epoch Times has said in public statements that it would cooperate with the investigation and that Mr. Guan had been suspended. It has also said that the accusations against Mr. Guan run counter to the publisher’s standards and to the principles of Falun Gong.

该媒体在公开声明中表示，它将配合调查，且关伟东已被停职。它还表示，关伟东涉嫌的罪行违背了出版社的标准和法轮功的原则。

法轮功信徒创办的报纸《大纪元时报》是神韵的赞助商。

Shen Yun’s supporters found another source of income when the pandemic swept the world in 2020, causing venues to close and putting a strain on the performing arts industry.

2020年大流行席卷全球，导致演出场所关闭，给表演艺术行业带来压力，但神韵的支持者们找到了另一个收入来源。

They did it in part by exploiting a loophole in a federal pandemic relief program launched to keep struggling arts programs afloat. The program was designed to award no more than $10 million in grant funding either to any one group or up to five “affiliated” organizations, with rules that were meant to ensure no single entity got a disproportionate share of the aid.

他们能这样做的部分原因是利用了联邦大流行救济计划中的一个漏洞，该计划是为了让陷入困境的艺术项目继续生存下去而发起的，旨在向任何团体或最多五个“附属”组织提供不超过1000万美元的拨款，这样的规定是想确保不让某一个团体获得过多的援助。

Shen Yun’s satellite nonprofits were all run by ardent followers of Mr. Li, many of whom had staged Shen Yun shows in their cities and sent money back to the dance group for years. But on paper, none of the groups shared board members or were formally related to Shen Yun or to one another, and so they were allowed to tap the federal well without limitation, The Times found.

神韵的非营利组织都是由李洪志的狂热追随者运作的，他们中的许多人多年来一直在各自的城市举办神韵演出，并向神韵捐款。但时报发现，从纸面上看，这些组织都没有共同的董事会成员，也没有与神韵或彼此之间的正式关系，因此它们可以不受任何限制地利用联邦资金。

In all, at least 25 of the satellite groups applied to the so-called Shuttered Venue Operations Grant program and received a combined $48 million, records show. Shen Yun, despite not performing for most of 2020 and 2021, reported a surge in assets in those years of $50 million.

记录显示，总共至少有25个外围团体申请了所谓的“关闭场馆运营补助金”项目，总共获得了4800万美元。神韵尽管在2020年和2021年的大部分时间里没有演出，但资产在这两年里却激增了5000万美元。

Meredith Lynsey Schade, a theatrical producer who worked with other applicants that sometimes struggled to get aid, called Shen Yun’s approach unethical.

戏剧制作人梅雷迪思·林赛·沙德称神韵的做法不道德，她曾与一些苦于难以得到援助的申请者合作。

“There are so many organizations that went under because they couldn’t pass the threshold,” she said. “Instead, one organization is hoarding all of this money.”

“有很多组织因为无法达到门槛而倒闭，”她说。“可这么多钱却全被一个组织卷走。”

And then there were the practitioners who sneaked wads of cash into the United States at the dance group’s direction.

还有一些修炼者在艺术团的指使下，偷偷将一沓沓现金带入美国。

Three former Shen Yun performers told The Times that they ferried money through customs without disclosing it. Their accounts bore some similarities to a 2009 incident in which a practitioner was charged by federal prosecutors with smuggling more than $100,000 in cash, some wrapped in tinfoil, through customs at Kennedy International Airport. (A lawyer for Falun Gong later convinced prosecutors to drop the case.)

三位前神韵表演者告诉时报，他们在没有海关申报的情况下将钱带入美国。他们的说法与2009年的一起事件有些相似，当时一名神韵信徒被联邦检察官指控在肯尼迪国际机场偷带超过10万美元的现金，其中一些还用锡箔纸包裹。(法轮功的一名律师后来说服检察官撤销了此案）。

In 2015, the night before flying back to New York from Barcelona, the performers were each handed a white envelope stuffed with $100 bills.

2015年，在从巴塞罗那飞回纽约的前一晚，表演们每人都收到了一个塞满百元大钞的白色信封。

They were instructed to keep it in their carry-on bags but to separate it. One performer, then a teenager, recalled getting $10,000 — the maximum a person can carry in without reporting it under laws meant to combat money laundering and other crimes. The performer put some of the money in a diary and recalled feeling like a character in a spy movie.

他们被要求把钱放在随身行李里，但要分开放。一名当时只有十几岁的表演者回忆说，他拿到了1万美元——根据旨在打击洗钱和其他犯罪的法律规定，一个人在不申报的情况下最多可以携带1万美元。这位表演者把其中一些钱放在日记本里，并回忆说感觉自己就像间谍电影中的人物。

“They said it was very important money,” said the performer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A manager instructed: “Don’t let other people know that you have this.”

“他们说这是非常重要的钱，”这位不愿透露姓名的表演者说。一名管理者告诉他，“不要让其他人知道你身上有这笔钱。”

前神韵舞蹈演员孙赞（音）说，他在神韵巡回演出期间，上级指示他从巴塞罗那把现金带入美国。

Sun Zan, another performer who carried cash, said he had to surrender his envelope to Shen Yun staff on the bus after the flight. One performer was chastised for leaving the money in a bag that could not be reached right away, he said.

另一位携带现金的演员孙赞（音）说，下飞机后他必须在大巴车上将信封交给神韵工作人员。他说，有一位表演者把钱放在了一个无法马上拿到的包里，因此受到了责备。

Mr. Sun did not think much of the episode because he had often been paid in cash for dancing, he said, though there was one key difference.

孙赞对这个插曲并没有多想，他说，因为他跳舞时经常收到现金报酬，但有一个关键区别。

The envelope he brought home from Barcelona held about half of what he earned from Shen Yun in an entire year.

他从巴塞罗那带回的信封里装着的钱，是他一整年从神韵获得的收入的一半。