Epoch times is run by Falun Gong.
The Chinese official government line is that Falun Gong is an extremely dangerous cult that should be repressed. I've seen people on the English language internet intentionally comparing it to Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc.
In reality it seems to be more like a Chinese version of Scientology.
As far as I know, among them, Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God was making false promise about their ability of "getting people back on their feet".
I don't know why people here are suddenly on fire when saw me put Falun Gong and cult together. In China, we use word "神棍"[0] to describe someone who fake their supernatural ability and pretend to be the messenger of god. And the word was come out before CCP even a thing, that alone can tell you something does it?
[0] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A3%8D%E9%A8%99#%E7%A5%9E%E...