As The Associated Press reports:

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Weidong “Bill” Guan of Secaucus, N.J., chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, of steering at least $67 million in criminal proceeds, much from fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits, to the company, its affiliates and himself. Guan pleaded not guilty but was suspended by The Epoch Times, which agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

The case calls into question the future of a company that was a key online supporter of Trump and spreader of conspiracy theories.

Oh no! A pro-Trump outlet could go under? That’s a lot of extra slack for The New York Times to pick up!

Of course, suspending one guy may not remove suspicion from the paper itself, given the details of the case. The AP notes that, in the past, The Epoch Times was “particularly aggressive” with its Facebook advertising, eventually leading the social media platform, in 2019, to ban the newspaper’s pro-Trump ads over violations of its policies. And it’s still unclear where all that advertising money was coming from.

The indictment doesn’t specifically say that these pro-Trump efforts were funded through the alleged criminal scheme. But it was around this time that money was pouring in. The Epoch Times reported nearly $128 million in revenue for 2021, a stunning increase from $4 million in 2016, according to a federal financial disclosure. The turnaround caught the eye of banks, regulators and, eventually, federal prosecutors.

In other words, something about these Trump-pushers doesn’t smell quite right. Why does that seem so familiar? Well, because the world’s gone mad, hasn’t it? And that’s been made abundantly clear through the paper’s own coverage.

In an October exposé titled “How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions,” NBC News explained how the “aggressive online and real-world marketing campaigns and big-money conservative donors” allowed the media company to prosper, “growing its revenue by a staggering 685% in two years, to $122 million in 2021.”

This was before federal regulators discovered the alleged money-laundering hijinks, but there’s no disputing that that money—regardless of how it was obtained—was being used to promote pro-MAGA nonsense.

Its editorial vision — fueled by a right-wing slant and conspiracy theories — is on display in recent reports on how “Jan. 6 Capitol Hill Security Footage Challenges Key Narratives” and “Meteorologists, Scientists Explain Why There Is ‘No Climate Emergency.’” Its video series include a documentary-style film alleging widespread vaccine injury and death and an exposé of an alleged world government agenda to harm farmers, cull the population and force survivors to eat bugs.

While The Epoch Times’ suspended CFO is in hot water now, he could soon be taking bubble baths with convicted felon Trump if the latter wins his bid for a second term in the White House. Because in case you hadn’t noticed, sucking up to the ocher abomination is now widely seen as a viable business strategy.

So what do you suppose happens if Trump wins in November? Will all these scofflaws find new respect for the American justice system, or will we sink further into a swamp of lawlessness and cronyism, where one’s legal and financial fates are decided by one’s demonstrated loyalty to Trump?

Well, we don’t have to speculate all that much, because Trump has already tipped his hand. Despite whining (and lying) about President Joe Biden’s supposed involvement in a state case prosecuted by a New York district attorney and decided by 12 ordinary Americans, Trump himself has hardly been shy about going after his political foes.

In fact, not only did Trump suggest locking up his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton numerous times, but he also took tentative steps toward making that happen. As The New York Timesreported in 2019, Trump demanded that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions pursue Clinton’s prosecution. That didn’t happen, of course, because Sessions refused.

Think Trump would stay his hand during a second term while besotted with revenge fantasies and unencumbered by adult supervision?

Of course, if Richard Nixon came back and saw what Trump is currently doing to our republic, he’d vomit his small intestines. Then again, Nixon came from a simpler time, when people thought vaccines were still marginally useful and voting for felons was a bridge too far.

But if being anti-Trump is enough to get you fired or prosecuted, it stands to reason that being a loyal Trump soldier will likely redound to your benefit. Trump is already planning to pardon the violent thugs who stormed our Capitol on his behalf in January 2021, and he’s regularly protected his loyal capos with pardons and commutations.

For instance, in July 2020, Trump commuted crony Roger Stone’s sentence after Stone was convicted of witness tampering, obstructing justice, and lying to Congress—on Trump’s behalf. The move was so outrageous, in fact, Sen. Mitt Romney called it “unprecedented, historic corruption.”

Shortly before leaving office, Trump also pardoned his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who had refused to rat out his ex-boss during Robert Mueller’s Russia election interference investigation.

The pardon drew a rebuke from several lawmakers, including GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, who called it “rotten to the core,” and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who tweeted, “During the Mueller investigation, Trump’s lawyer floated a pardon to Manafort. Manafort withdrew his cooperation with prosecutors, lied, was convicted, and then Trump praised him for not ‘ratting.’ Trump’s pardon now completes the corrupt scheme. Lawless until the bitter end.”

So, as with Putin and the doofuses holding Trump Media stock, perhaps Guan’s best strategy is simply to wait in the hope that Trump returns to the White House. Because if he does, perhaps his little pro-Trump conspiracy rag may very well become one of Trump’s favorite news outlets. After all, if there’s one thing Trump likes almost as much as himself, it’s unsupported conspiracies—the wilder, the better.

And maybe Guan would even get a pardon if he ingratiated himself enough, and kept the fire hose of pro-Trump misinformation flowing.

Luckily for grifters, liars, and lawbreakers everywhere, another Trump term would be a veritable Shangri-La—so long as they all toe the Trumpian line, and their genuflecting knees last just a wee bit longer than their rapidly corroding souls.

So while The Epoch Times may be in big trouble now, like Putin and the J6 rioters, they can certainly hope for relief from Trump if he wins. Hell, they may even become a protected, de facto state media outlet as we slide further and further into corruption and lawlessness. And if that happens, there will be no limit to the amount of sketchy money they can rake in to promote their pro-Trump agenda.