A Chinese billionaire and critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Guo Wengui, has been charged in the United States with defrauding investors out of $1 billion. Guo, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, was arrested in New York on Wednesday over an alleged conspiracy involving the misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars obtained from his thousands of followers online.
According to the US Department of Justice, Guo is accused of pocketing money raised from investors who were promised outsized returns for backing a number of his business ventures, including the media company GTV Media Group, an exclusive membership club known as G|CLUBS, and a cryptocurrency called Himalaya Coin. He is also alleged to have laundered hundreds of millions of stolen funds to conceal the conspiracy’s illegal activities and continue the fraud.
Guo and his business partner Kin Ming Je, with whom Guo is accused of perpetrating the fraud, face 11 charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Je, who authorities say is currently at large, also faces an additional count of obstruction of justice. The most serious of the charges carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Guo’s lawyer declined to comment.
Guo is accused of using some of the funds to make luxury purchases, including a 50,000-square property in New Jersey, a $37 million yacht, and a $3.5 million Ferrari for his son. Guo is a real estate tycoon who was born in Shandong and left China in 2014 amid a high-profile crackdown on corruption led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In 2017, Guo sought asylum in the US after claiming he was being persecuted by the CCP for exposing corruption among the upper echelons of the Chinese leadership. China confirmed that it requested Interpol to issue a notice for Guo’s arrest in April of that year, after the businessman made a series of unproven claims about Chinese officials bearing illegitimate children as well as owning property and bank accounts overseas.
Guo is known for his strident criticism of the CCP and his close association with prominent conservative figures, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. In 2020, Guo and Bannon launched the New Federal State of China lobby group aimed at bringing down the CCP. Bannon was on Guo’s yacht off the New York coast when the former Trump adviser was arrested that year on unrelated fraud charges. Bannon, who is due to stand trial later this year, has pleaded not guilty in that case.
The charges against Guo are likely to further strain US-China relations, which have already been tense over issues such as trade, human rights, and Hong Kong. The US has accused China of engaging in unfair trade practices and human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province. China has denied these allegations and accused the US of interfering in its internal affairs.
The arrest of Guo is also likely to be seen as a victory for Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted high-ranking officials and businesspeople accused of corruption. The campaign has been criticized by some as a means for Xi to consolidate power and eliminate political rivals.
In conclusion, Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire known for his opposition to Beijing and ties to the administration of former US President Donald Trump, has been charged in the United States with defrauding investors out of $1 billion. He is accused of pocketing money raised from investors who were promised outsized returns for backing a number of his business ventures and laundering hundreds of millions of stolen funds to conceal the conspiracy’s illegal activities and continue the fraud.