Former Falun Gong member sues movement affiliates, members for retaliatory defamation
Updated: Sep. 04, 2026, 8:29 p.m.
|Published: Sep. 04, 2026, 8:26 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD — A former member of a Chinese spiritual movement, who exposed alleged human rights abuses within an associated dance troupe, is suing the movement for retaliatory defamation, court records show.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield this week, plaintiff Chao Yu alleges leaders within Falun Gong — a religious movement that gained popularity during the height of the Chinese communist regime in the 1990s — ignored Yu’s complaints about the treatment of former Shen Yun performers, and retaliated against him by reporting him to the FBI.
Yu is represented by Boston attorney Megan Siddall, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yu names the following people and organizations as defendants: Shen Yun; The Epoch Times, the conservative newspaper affiliated with Falun Gong, and other news agencies owned by the movement; George Xu, the president of the movement’s headquarters in New York, Jonathan Levi Browde, executive director at Falun Dafa Information Center; and Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center.
An attorney for the defendants is not yet listed.
In response to an emailed request for comment from The Republican Friday, Browde said he only recently learned of the lawsuit, and is unable to comment on particulars.
“I will say the plaintiff appears to have made it his life’s mission to attack the Falun Gong community, a religious minority that, inside China, has faced widespread detention, torture, and killing at the hands of the Chinese communist regime, and outside China, has played a pivotal role to expose Beijing’s illicit campaign to silence and malign Americans and American institutions right here on U.S. soil,” he said. “I think it’s very sad the plaintiff has chosen, regardless of his reasons, to engage in a media and legal war that would certainly please Beijing to no end.”
What the complaint entails
Shen Yun Performing Arts is a 20-year-old dance company known for colorful performances that portray Chinese history before communist rule. It is owned by Falun Gong.
In 2017, Shen Yun dancers, who are predominantly minors and young adults, allegedly complained to Yu that they were being mistreated, the federal complaint said. The allegations included “abuse, indoctrination, coercion, exploitation, psychological manipulation, lasting trauma, and suicide attempts,” the complaint added.
The Associated Press previously reported a former performer sued the dance company in 2024 for alleged abuse.
Instead of heeding Yu’s concerns, Yu said high-ranking members of the movement told him to keep quiet. He alleges they turned on him in an “organized campaign to destroy Mr. Yu’s reputation,” the complaint said.
In 2023, Yu publicly exposed the mistreatment of Shen Yun performers and filed a report with the FBI asking them to investigate the dance company.
The Williamstown resident, and former Falun Gong practitioner, was imprisoned for a decade in China after building encrypted communication channels to help Western journalists interview other Falun Gong members about being “religiously persecuted,” the complaint said.
“Falun Gong tracked down my address, causing me to fear for my safety. Shen Yun twisted my words and misled U.S. federal law enforcement agencies in an attempt to silence me. But I will not be silenced,” he said in a GoFundMe posted in 2024.
“I cannot sit idly by while Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts commit illegal acts in the name of ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance’,” core tenets of the movement, he added.
According to the complaint, the FBI investigated Yu based off reports made to them, allegedly by members of Falun Gong. It was said that he allegedly threatened the movement’s religious compound and headquarters, known as Dragon Springs, in Deerpark, New York, and was potentially armed and dangerous.
Yu vehemently denies those claims.
Battling the six charges against him — two counts of possession of a large capacity firearm without a valid license to carry; two counts of possession of a large-capacity feeding device without a valid license to carry and two counts of possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card — “consumed nearly three years of Mr. Yu’s life,” the complaint said.
Eventually, the most serious charges against Yu were dropped. The rest of the charges were continued without a finding and dropped in June. Yu incurred $107,000 in legal fees, the complaint said.
Yu is suing the defendants for defamation related to threats they allege he made about Dragon Springs; defamation related to claims that Yu is an “agent” or “pawn” of the Chinese Communist Party; intentional infliction of emotional distress; violating state laws of coercion and intimidation; and civil conspiracy.
The plaintiff wants to be financially awarded for his damages. Yu is also after injunctive relief, including in the form of requiring the defendants to remove all “defamatory” publications against him from its news organizations and other platforms, and compensation for his attorneys’ fees.