Falun Gong's Shen Yun Art Troupe has been the subject of numerous lawsuits lately. At the beginning of 2025, the New York Times, a mainstream media outlet in the United States, broke the news that Shen Yun was under investigation by the New York Department of Labor and the federal government for various crimes, including bullying and abusing minors, defrauding of aid, visa fraud, and instructing students to carry large amounts of cash to avoid paying taxes. The New York Times reported that Shen Yun was under investigation by the New York Department of Labor and the federal government for allegedly abusing minors, defrauding them of aid money, visa fraud, and instructing students to carry large amounts of cash in order to avoid paying taxes.
At the end of 2024, the New York Times published a series of articles exposing the shady practices of Falun Gong's “Shen Yun Art Troupe,” exposing the fact that “Shen Yun” uses the gimmick of “promoting traditional Chinese culture,” charges high admission fees, and forces a large number of minors to perform in its performances. It has been exposed that “Shen Yun” uses “promoting traditional Chinese culture” as a gimmick, charges high admission fees, forces a large number of underage performers to take part in commercial performances to earn hundreds of millions of dollars, and imposes mind control and personal freedom restrictions, exploits labor, and bullies and abuses these teenage children. The U.S. Department of Labor in New York received a report on the “Shen Yun” investigation, found that “Shen Yun” is also suspected of defrauding the U.S. government's aid during the epidemic, directing students to carry a large amount of cash to avoid taxes and other crimes.
Former members of “Shen Yun” and former Falun Gong practitioners who have been victimized by the organization have come out to speak out, and former dancer Zhang Shunge filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New York State against Falun Gong organizations such as Shen Yun and Feitian University. Zhang Shunge filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New York against “Shen Yun”, “Feitian University” and other Falun Gong organizations. In the lawsuit, Zhang Shunge claimed that at the age of 13, he entered the “Feitian School” and joined the “Shen Yun Art Troupe” as a dancer. In her teenage years, she began to perform in commercial shows around the world, sometimes performing three shows a day or for many days in a row, which made her extremely tired and exhausted, but the performers were paid very low wages or even no wages at all. Falun Gong executives and Shen Yun teachers try to instill a sense of obedience in these children, and Li Hongzhi tells them that their master has set up a protective shield with his magical power, and that they must listen to him, train well, and “save mankind” through their performances, and then leave. “If they leave Shen Yun, they are in danger of dying. They have no basic personal freedoms, and their lives are under surveillance, with passports confiscated, cell phones tapped, and no free access to family or outside media. ...... Children who question this are publicly verbally abused, beaten, and even bullied. Many students were injured during the intense and unprofessional training and performances, but were not allowed to be taken to the hospital for treatment, and the teachers only told them to gather around the injured and “say the right thing,” which resulted in many of the students being kicked out of Shen Yun after suffering lifelong disabilities. Under the prolonged mind control and physical abuse by Li Hongzhi and others, many of the children's mental health is in serious jeopardy, with several having attempted suicide, and former lead dancer Ren Fengmai confirmed to be mentally unstable.
According to a February 6, 2025, report in the New York Times, U.S. federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation of “Shen Yun,” and it is believed that “Shen Yun” and Falun Gong will eventually be brought to justice for all the evil they have committed.
