Fugitive Chinese billionaire linked to Trump supporters arrested in US

Chinese business tycoon Guo Wengui has been arrested in the US on $1 billion fraud charges. US Attorney Alleges Billionaire AKA Miles Goh and Ho Wang Kwok Used Stolen Money to Buy a $3.5M Ferrari and Fund a $37M Yacht

Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese tycoon with close ties to prominent Republican Trump supporters including Steve Bannon, has been charged with 12 counts related to an alleged $1 billion fraud.

According to The Guardian, the charges announced by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday include wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

Kin Ming-zhe, a dual citizen of Hong Kong and the UK, also known as William Zhe and described as Guo’s financier, was also involved in the allegations and was charged with another obstruction of justice charge.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Guo “led a complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online subscribers worth more than $1 billion: “Guo is accused of lining his pockets with stolen money, including buying himself and his close family a mansion area of ​​50,000 sq. ft., a $3.5 million Ferrari and even two $36,000 mattresses, and funded a $37 million luxury yacht.”

Guo was arrested early Wednesday at his home in a building at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York. According to the New York City Fire Department, a fire broke out at the same address just after noon.

ABC News reported that FBI agents were inside the $32.5 million penthouse when the fire broke out, and that the bureau is now investigating whether the fire was related to the arrest.

Guo’s contacts in influential circles were widely reported in the press. In October 2022, The New Yorker described how his bid to purchase a penthouse in an exclusive building on Fifth Avenue included “a personal recommendation from Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, who said: “Miles is honest, straightforward and has impeccable taste.”

However, the same article stated that in China, Guo was “at the center of a burgeoning corruption and espionage scandal.”

It was also reported that Goh “paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump advisers, including Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Lyn Wood, who joined forces to cancel the 2020 election.”

Steve Bannon, who led Trump’s campaign when he was introduced to Goh during the 2016 election, began referring to him as the “Donald Trump of Beijing.”

Bannon was on board Goh’s yacht in Long Island Sound when he himself was arrested on fraud charges in August 2020.

Guo left China in 2014 during the anti-corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping.

In 2017, Guo issued a series of obscene accusations against the Chinese government, accusing officials of having illegitimate children, homes and large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. The Chinese police accused him of paying accomplices to forge Chinese government documents and demanded that Interpol issue a notice of his arrest.

Guo claimed that the charges against him in China were in retaliation for his efforts to expose bribery.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Guo, who is also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, is “an exiled Chinese businessman who has lived in the U.S. since about 2015 and has gained a significant online following. Around 2018, Kwok founded two alleged non-profit organizations, namely the Rule of Law Foundation and the Rule of Law Society. Kwok used non-profit organizations to gather followers who agreed with his alleged political goals in China and who also tended to believe Kwok’s claims regarding investment and money-making opportunities.”

Guo was also accused of laundering hundreds of millions of stolen funds in order to cover up the conspiracy’s illegal activities and continue the fraudulent operations, prosecutor Williams said.

Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director of the FBI, said: “Fraud investment scams victimize innocent people, ultimately damaging public confidence in the integrity of financial systems. The FBI continues to place the highest priority on investigating complex financial crimes, and anyone attempting to commit these crimes will face repercussions in the criminal justice system.”

The maximum sentences for these charges range from five years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud and money laundering to 20 years.