An exiled Chinese billionaire with ties to Steve Bannon has been arrested by the FBI in New York on allegations he masterminded a billion-dollar fraud and then spent the money on a yacht, mansion and other outrageous luxuries.
Guo Wengui was detained by agents Wednesday morning for an elaborate scam to defraud his legion of online followers through fictitious investments. He is expected to appear in court today.
The business mogul, who also goes by a series of aliases, spent the money on a 50,000-square-foot mansion in New Jersey, a Lamborghini supercar and a luxury yacht worth about $37 million.
He also splurged on roughly $978,000 worth of Chinese and Persian rugs, a $62,000 television, and a $53,000 wood-burning crib stand.
Prosecutors revealed information about the elaborate fraud on Wednesday along with extraordinary details about the luxuries acquired by Guo. Guo is charged along with his financial adviser William Je, a Hong Kong/UK dual citizen who served as a “key financial architect and money launderer” in the fraud.
Guo Wengui is pictured on the left with Steve Bannon on the right. In 2018, Guo joined Bannon in trying to overthrow China’s communist government.
Prosecutors seized Guo’s $37 million “Lady May” yacht, where former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was arrested on board on unrelated charges in 2020.
Investigators also seized about $634 million in 21 different bank accounts, the US attorney’s office said.
US Attorney Damian Williams said: ‘Ho Wan Kwok, known to many as ‘Miles Guo’, led an elaborate conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of more than $1 billion.
“Kwok is accused of lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari and even two $36,000 mattresses for himself and his close relatives, and financing a $36,000 yacht. luxury of $37 million”.
Guo is closely associated with Bannon, the right-wing firebrand who helped Donald Trump win security in the 2016 presidential election and later served as chief strategist at the White House.
Bannon was arrested on Guo’s 152-foot yacht Lady May in August 2020 on fraud charges related to the We Build the Wall fundraising campaign for a wall between the United States and Mexico.
The SEC has also filed charges against Guo and Je today alleging “multi-offer fraud” targeting retail investors online and via social media.
“Since or about April 2020, Guo has made fraudulent security offerings that have collectively raised at least hundreds of millions of dollars from investors in the United States and around the world,” the SEC case said.
“Unbeknownst to those investors, Guo and his financial adviser, Je, misappropriated a large portion of the funds raised from some of the Subject Offerings to enrich themselves and their family members.”
Guo made billions through business ventures in China before fleeing to the US in 2014 to escape arrest on charges of bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape.
Steve Bannon and Guo are friends, and the pair once staged a stunt in which a plane carrying an anti-CCP banner flew over the Statue of Liberty.
Guo made billions through business ventures in China before fleeing to the US in 2014 to escape arrest on charges of bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape.
He filed for bankruptcy in the US in February last year, claiming his assets had dwindled to less than $100,000.
In 2018, Guo joined Bannon in trying to overthrow China’s communist government. They staged a stunt in which a plane with an anti-CCP banner flew over the Statue of Liberty.
Guo also shed his own blood in a document that promised to overthrow the party of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
More follows.