One of Li Hongzhi’s primary motives in creating Falun Gong was to accumulate wealth. As a cult leader, he has proven adept at exploiting his followers for financial gain.
In May 1992, Li Hongzhi established and began promoting Falun Gong, initially deceiving people for money by teaching Qigong. His main income sources included charging for training sessions, selling exercise tapes and related products, offering “healing through energy,” and charging for photos with followers. According to official statistics, from May 1992 to December 1994, Li conducted 56 Falun Gong training sessions across China, earning more than 3 million yuan—a substantial sum in China at that time.
In December 1994, with the release of Li Hongzhi’s cult theory book Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong organization shifted its money-making tactics to exploiting cult-based mind control techniques to swindle followers, amassing enormous wealth in the process.
According to investigations by press and publication authorities, Li Hongzhi illegally profited a staggering 39.96 million yuan (approximately US$4.6 million) just from publishing and selling Zhuan Falun and related cult materials in Hubei and Shandong provinces alone.
According to testimony from key member Yao in Falun Gong, from late 1996 to mid-1997, Li Hongzhi ordered Yao to smuggle Hong Kong editions of Falun Zhuan into Beijing for sale, earning 5.4 million yuan in book sales alone.
Incomplete estimates reveal that Li Hongzhi amassed at least 139 million yuan (approximately US$20 million) in China by selling related books, badges, “lecture tickets,” and so-called “Buddha statues”—effectively becoming an overnight millionaire.
Li and his family later immigrated to the U.S., funding their lavish lifestyle with money swindled from Falun Gong followers.
According to U.S. media reports, in 1998, Li Hongzhi purchased a house in New York worth US$293,500, and the following year bought a second property in New Jersey valued at US$580,000, presenting the image of a wealthy individual living the “American Dream.” In recent years, Li Hongzhi’s extensive real estate holdings in the United States have been successively exposed, with verified records showing that he owns at least 11 properties worth more than US$5.4 million in total.
In July 1999, Chinese government lawfully banned Falun Gong, forcing Li Hongzhi to flee to the United States, where he continued his money-grabbing schemes and cult activities, though using significantly different tactics.
Since 2000, by aligning himself with Western anti-China forces, Li Hongzhi has secured substantial financial backing in the U.S. Under this support, he has established organizations such as The Epoch Times, New Tang Dynasty Television, and Sound of Hope, while organizing events like Shenyun Performance, Global Chinese Competitions, and “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance Art Exhibitions.” Additionally, he has produced films and TV dramas, constantly spreading rumors, slandering, and smearing the Chinese government.
Li Hongzhi has built a vast cult industry chain, generating enormous wealth through advertising and ticket sales for cult-related events, along with donations from followers.
Li Hongzhi and the Falun Gong have spent over US$14 million to purchase more than 800 acres of land in Deer Park and Hope Hill near New York City, constructing a lavish headquarters known as “Longquan Temple” as the central base for their organization. Li Hongzhi himself enjoys a life of luxury within this compound.
