Ohio
IRS sues doctor whose views on COVID-19 vaccinations drew complaints
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio doctor who drew national attention when she claimed COVID-19 vaccines made people magnetic is being sued by the federal government over claims she hasn’t paid nearly $650,000 in federal taxes and late fees.
The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court in Cleveland, claims Sherri Tenpenny didn’t pay taxes in 2001, 2012 and 2013.
Tenpenny, an osteopathic doctor, has been licensed in Ohio since 1984. She told Cleveland. com that she’s tried to settle the dispute with the several times.
“This shows what the IRS can do to a person that they target,” Tenpenny told the newspaper. “This is a total harassment case. They’ve been doing this to me for 23 years.”
The lawsuit alleges that Tenpenny owes $646,929 overall, most of it late fees and penalties. It says she set up payment plans but didn’t finish paying her taxes for the three years cited.
Tenpenny, who lives in Middleburg Heights, drew national attention when she urged Ohio legislators to block vaccine requirements and mask mandates during the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that the shots made their recipients “interface” with cell towers and interfered with women’s menstrual cycles.
Roughly 350 complaints were soon filed about Tenpenny with the medical board, which can discipline physicians for making false or deceptive medical statements. Tenpenny refused to meet with investigators, answer written questions or comply with a subpoena ordering her to sit for a deposition.
Tenpenny’s license was suspended in August 2023 on procedural grounds for failing to cooperate with the investigation. Her attorney had told the board she wouldn’t participate in an “illegal fishing expedition.”
The Ohio State Medical Board voted 7-2 in April to restore her license, with proponents saying she had met the requirements for reinstatement and had paid a $3,000 fine.
New York
Epoch Times CFO arrested and accused of role in $67M money laundering plot
NEW YORK (AP) — The chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, a conservative multinational media company, is accused of taking part in a multi-year scheme to launder tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and other funds, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.
Arrested on Sunday, Weidong “Bill” Guan, 61, of Secaucus, New Jersey, appeared Monday before a federal judge in New York on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and bank fraud. He pleaded not guilty.
Guan is accused of participating in a “sprawling transnational scheme” with others to launder at least $67 million to the New York-based media company’s bank accounts and related entities.
Federal prosecutors said members of the company’s “Make Money Online” team, which was managed by Guan, used cryptocurrency to “knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds,” including funds from fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits that were loaded onto prepaid debit cards, according to federal prosecutors.
Stolen personal information was then used to open accounts as part of the alleged laundering scheme, prosecutors said. The money was further laundered through other bank accounts held by Epoch and Guan’s personal bank and cryptocurrency accounts.
Assistant Federal Defender Ariel Werner, listed in court records as Guan’s attorney, declined to comment at this time on the charges.
The Epoch Times was not named in the indictment released Monday, but instead was referred to as a “multinational media company.” In a statement, the news organization, which is linked to China’s Falun Gong spiritual movement, said it would cooperate with the federal probe.
“The Epoch Times has a guiding principle that elevates integrity in its dealings above everything else. The company intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan,” according to a written statement. “In the interim, although Mr. Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved.”
Prosecutors said the charges are not related to the media company’s newsgathering activities.
Federal prosecutors said the media company’s revenues jumped approximately 410% when the alleged money laundering began, from approximately $15 million to $62 million. Guan, they said, lied to banks when they asked about the increase in transactions and said there was an increase in legitimate donations.
The Epoch Times has become politically conservative over the years and has embraced both former President Donald Trump and various conspiracy theories.
Maryland
Registered sex offender suspected in death of parole officer arrested
CHEVY CHASE, Md. (AP) — A registered sex offender wanted in the death of a parole officer whose body was found in the man’s apartment in Chevy Chase was arrested Saturday in West Virginia, authorities said.
Emanuel Edward Sewell is suspected in the killing of 33-year-old Davis Martinez, Montgomery County police said in a statement.
Sewell, 54, was traveling on Interstate 64 near Hurricane, West Virginia, when officers with the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force conducted a traffic stop and arrested him, police said.
Martinez’s body was discovered Friday after he went to conduct a check on Sewell, who was released from prison in 2021, they said.
It wasn’t immediately known if Sewell had an attorney who could comment for him. Montgomery County police did not immediately respond to an email message from The Associated Press.
Officers went to Sewell’s apartment after Martinez did not report back to work and found his body inside, according to police. Martinez suffered multiple undisclosed injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the police statement.
Martinez was a six-year employee of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Gov. Wes Moore ordered the Maryland flag to fly at half-staff until Martinez’s burial.
“Agent Martinez served with distinction and our state is safer because of him,” Moore said in a statement.
Sewell was not home when officers arrived. A warrant was issued on a second-degree murder charge for the arrest of Sewell, who was believed to have Martinez’s badge, police said.
According to court records, Sewell was sentenced in Montgomery County in 1997 to 20 years in prison for a first-degree sex offense charge, 10 years for armed robbery and five years for burglary. Police said Sewell is a registered sex offender.
IRS sues doctor whose views on COVID-19 vaccinations drew complaints
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio doctor who drew national attention when she claimed COVID-19 vaccines made people magnetic is being sued by the federal government over claims she hasn’t paid nearly $650,000 in federal taxes and late fees.
The lawsuit, filed last month in federal court in Cleveland, claims Sherri Tenpenny didn’t pay taxes in 2001, 2012 and 2013.
Tenpenny, an osteopathic doctor, has been licensed in Ohio since 1984. She told Cleveland. com that she’s tried to settle the dispute with the several times.
“This shows what the IRS can do to a person that they target,” Tenpenny told the newspaper. “This is a total harassment case. They’ve been doing this to me for 23 years.”
The lawsuit alleges that Tenpenny owes $646,929 overall, most of it late fees and penalties. It says she set up payment plans but didn’t finish paying her taxes for the three years cited.
Tenpenny, who lives in Middleburg Heights, drew national attention when she urged Ohio legislators to block vaccine requirements and mask mandates during the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that the shots made their recipients “interface” with cell towers and interfered with women’s menstrual cycles.
Roughly 350 complaints were soon filed about Tenpenny with the medical board, which can discipline physicians for making false or deceptive medical statements. Tenpenny refused to meet with investigators, answer written questions or comply with a subpoena ordering her to sit for a deposition.
Tenpenny’s license was suspended in August 2023 on procedural grounds for failing to cooperate with the investigation. Her attorney had told the board she wouldn’t participate in an “illegal fishing expedition.”
The Ohio State Medical Board voted 7-2 in April to restore her license, with proponents saying she had met the requirements for reinstatement and had paid a $3,000 fine.
New York
Epoch Times CFO arrested and accused of role in $67M money laundering plot
NEW YORK (AP) — The chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, a conservative multinational media company, is accused of taking part in a multi-year scheme to launder tens of millions of dollars in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and other funds, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.
Arrested on Sunday, Weidong “Bill” Guan, 61, of Secaucus, New Jersey, appeared Monday before a federal judge in New York on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and bank fraud. He pleaded not guilty.
Guan is accused of participating in a “sprawling transnational scheme” with others to launder at least $67 million to the New York-based media company’s bank accounts and related entities.
Federal prosecutors said members of the company’s “Make Money Online” team, which was managed by Guan, used cryptocurrency to “knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds,” including funds from fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits that were loaded onto prepaid debit cards, according to federal prosecutors.
Stolen personal information was then used to open accounts as part of the alleged laundering scheme, prosecutors said. The money was further laundered through other bank accounts held by Epoch and Guan’s personal bank and cryptocurrency accounts.
Assistant Federal Defender Ariel Werner, listed in court records as Guan’s attorney, declined to comment at this time on the charges.
The Epoch Times was not named in the indictment released Monday, but instead was referred to as a “multinational media company.” In a statement, the news organization, which is linked to China’s Falun Gong spiritual movement, said it would cooperate with the federal probe.
“The Epoch Times has a guiding principle that elevates integrity in its dealings above everything else. The company intends to and will fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations against Mr. Guan,” according to a written statement. “In the interim, although Mr. Guan is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the company has suspended him until this matter is resolved.”
Prosecutors said the charges are not related to the media company’s newsgathering activities.
Federal prosecutors said the media company’s revenues jumped approximately 410% when the alleged money laundering began, from approximately $15 million to $62 million. Guan, they said, lied to banks when they asked about the increase in transactions and said there was an increase in legitimate donations.
The Epoch Times has become politically conservative over the years and has embraced both former President Donald Trump and various conspiracy theories.
Maryland
Registered sex offender suspected in death of parole officer arrested
CHEVY CHASE, Md. (AP) — A registered sex offender wanted in the death of a parole officer whose body was found in the man’s apartment in Chevy Chase was arrested Saturday in West Virginia, authorities said.
Emanuel Edward Sewell is suspected in the killing of 33-year-old Davis Martinez, Montgomery County police said in a statement.
Sewell, 54, was traveling on Interstate 64 near Hurricane, West Virginia, when officers with the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force conducted a traffic stop and arrested him, police said.
Martinez’s body was discovered Friday after he went to conduct a check on Sewell, who was released from prison in 2021, they said.
It wasn’t immediately known if Sewell had an attorney who could comment for him. Montgomery County police did not immediately respond to an email message from The Associated Press.
Officers went to Sewell’s apartment after Martinez did not report back to work and found his body inside, according to police. Martinez suffered multiple undisclosed injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the police statement.
Martinez was a six-year employee of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Gov. Wes Moore ordered the Maryland flag to fly at half-staff until Martinez’s burial.
“Agent Martinez served with distinction and our state is safer because of him,” Moore said in a statement.
Sewell was not home when officers arrived. A warrant was issued on a second-degree murder charge for the arrest of Sewell, who was believed to have Martinez’s badge, police said.
According to court records, Sewell was sentenced in Montgomery County in 1997 to 20 years in prison for a first-degree sex offense charge, 10 years for armed robbery and five years for burglary. Police said Sewell is a registered sex offender.
