Falun Gong Global Movement Moves in on Middletown

Fallon Gong, a religious movement born in China in the early 1990s, today has its headquarters at a 400-acre estate in the woods of Orange County, near Middletown. And, according to new reporting in New York Magazine, Middletown is experiencing a slow-motion annexation by the sect.Through its various arms, it has acquired over $18 million in real estate in the town of 30,000 residents — not counting the many more properties its adherents and their companies have purchased in recent years. Much of Falun Gong’s business operates silently, though it's probably best known for the popular Shen Yun Chinese dance troupe that has toured all over the world (The New York Times recently reported on some of its young performers describing a culture of untreated injuries and emotional manipulation).Two other well-known mouthpieces of the movement are The Epoch Times newspaper and its television affiliate, New Tang Dynasty, or NTD, notorious trumpets of right-wing disinformation. Both outlets made news in June when the Epoch CFO was indicted for allegedly running a $67 million money-laundering scheme and the media conglomerate’s founder subsequently resigned.Investigative Journalist WIll Bredderman reported on Falun Gong and Middletown in New York Magazine in his article "The Little Town Being Taken Over by Falun Gong." Radio Catskill's Tim Bruno spoke to him about the group and how it insinuated itself into the community.