Guo Wengui

Guo Wengui, China's billionaire and proclaimed dissident, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding thousands of followers through complex investment ...

Guo Wengui had co-founded two nonprofit organisations - the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation. Guo has been known for his staunch criticism of the Chinese government and has been exiled to Manhattan. Guo Wengui, China's billionaire and proclaimed dissident, has been arrested on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding thousands of followers out of more than $1 billion through complex investment schemes, reported CNN.

On Wednesday, March 15, exiled Chinese businessman and Steve Bannon associate Guo Wengui was arrested on fraud and money laundering charges.

The Guardian reported on Wednesday that when Wengui was arrested, a fire broke out in his apartment. CNBC reported that in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon allegedly used a sophisticated online misinformation network to sell questionable Covid treatments to customers. The Wall Street Journal noted that while Guo Wengui was once the 73rd richest person in China, his life changed in 2014 after Chinese authorities accused him of several charges, including bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, and assault. Wall Street Journal noted that Wengui and Bannon co-founded GTV Media Group. As per the New York Times, Guo Wengui initially cultivated his fortune in China through lucrative land deals. According to Opoyi, while Guo Wengui was known to be worth $1.1 billion in 2015, he filed for bankruptcy in February 2022.

In a curious plot twist, a fire broke out on the same floor as Guo's $32.5 million apartment in the Sherry-Netherland hotel in Midtown around noon, ...

And the New Federal State of China, “declared” three years ago by Steve Bannon and exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, made its first CPAC appearance with a ...

But their flashy CPAC presentation, including some advocates who described fleeing China after the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square, found a receptive audience, and rhymed with what was happening on the main stage. The Bannon-Wengui partnership burst into the headlines before the 2020 election, when Bannon was arrested on Guo’s yacht on charges that were later superseded by a pardon from President Trump. [reminds](https://www.semafor.com/article/03/03/2023/fears-of-china-are-hitting-new-peaks-at-cpac) that Guo found $75,000 to support CPAC, in spite of his claimed bankruptcy. “The elimination of the Chinese Communist Party is essential in breaking the shackles of slavery imposed on the Chinese people,” Bannon said at the 2020 ceremony launching the NFSC, “and also, in bringing about peace to the international community and all mankind.” Guo, citing “Chinese culture,” pricked his finger and signed the declaration with his blood. But for now, know that SDNY started seizing some of the proceeds of this fraud last year, and will now move to seize the yacht on which Bannon was arrested for his own fraud indictment, as well as some $36K mattresses Guo bought with the proceeds of his alleged fraud. [arrested this morning](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ho-wan-kwok-aka-miles-guo-arrested-orchestrating-over-1-billion-dollar-fraud-conspiracy) on a [sweeping indictment](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.595324/gov.uscourts.nysd.595324.2.0.pdf) charging a $1 billion conspiracy, four sets of wire and security fraud charges each tied to a particularly business, as well as other money laundering charges.