¶ Guo Wengui
Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo, Ho Wan Kwok, Miles Kwok, Brother Seven, Guo Haoyun and The Principal,[1] is a Chinese billionaire based in New York.
Guo is the registered or functional owner of a number of companies including GTV Media Group, G|CLUBS, G|Fashion, G | Music, and Guo Media, and is an investor in GETTR.
He is the father of Qiang Guo, owner of Saraca Media Group.[2]
¶ History
Guo grew up in the farming village of Xicaoying with seven siblings.[3]
¶ Career
Guo was imprisoned in 1989, and upon his release, took a job with a Hong Kong entrepreneur named Xia Ping.
In 1993, Guo ran a company called Big Boss Furniture. He then joined a project to build the first skyscraper hotel in Zhengzhou, the Yuda International Trade Centre.[4] Around 2002, he relocated to Beijing.
According to the New Yorker, Guo used sexual blackmail against Beijing's vice-mayor Liu Zhihua in order to secure a permit to build beside the site of the then-upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics. The blackmail material was allegedly provided to Guo by a Chinese “spymaster” named Ma Jian. The plot of land was used to build the Pangu Plaza.
¶ Powerful associates
Guo reportedly travelled several times to meet the Dalai Lama on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security[5] He allegedly courted former British Prime Minister Tony Blair since they met in 2008, purchasing five thousand copies of Cherie Blair's autobiography in 2009 and donating to Blair's charities.[6][7]
Shortly after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Guo invited Orville Schell, Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, for a dinner at the Pangu Plaza. He also reportedly had dinners with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, and met with Kim Jong-un on a trip to North Korea.[8]
In or around 2013, Tony Blair agreed to introduce Guo to members of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, who allegedly gave Guo $3 billion.[9]
¶ Defecting from China
In late 2014, Guo accused a rival named Li You of corruption. The conflict escalated into public view, bringing scrutiny onto Guo's relationship with the Chinese government and intelligence apparatus. On January 16, 2015, the Communist Party of China announced that Guo's intelligence colleague Ma Jian was under investigation. Guo fled to London, England via Hong Kong, eventually landing in New York City.
¶ Move to America
In 2015, Guo purchased a $68 million penthouse suite at Sherry-Netherland tower in the Upper East Side of New York City. He reportedly provided a reference letter from UBS and a personal recommendation from Tony Blair.[10] He allegedly provided intelligence on China to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and to a lesser extent, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Guo reportedly attempted to hire Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as his lawyer.
At some point prior to Donald Trump becoming the Republican candidate for President of the United States, Guo became a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
News reports in March 2015 suggested that Guo and a Chinese intelligence officer named Ma Jian had engaged in “surveillance, blackmail, and political influence to amass fortunes and evade scrutiny.” Despite initially denying reports of intelligence ties, he later acknowledged that he was affiliated in some form with the Ministry of State Security in China, completing tasks for the agency under the codename “Wu Nan.”
In 2016, Chinese authorities seized ownership of Guo's Pangu Plaza tower. According to CNN, a court in Beijing later listed it for sale on Alibaba, selling it “for just under 5.19 billion yuan,” equivalent to $734 million USD.[11]
In January 2017, Guo created an account on Twitter and began conducting interviews in which he accused Chinese leaders of corruption. One target in particular was Wang Qishan, who sued Guo for defamation in response. In April 2017, at the request of the Chinese government, Interpol issued a “red notice” for his arrest.[12]
In June 2017, vice-minister of public security Sun Lijun made contact with Steve Wynn, finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Sun asked for assistance in returning Guo to China, and Wynn reportedly agreed to raise the issue with President Trump.
¶ Ventures with Steve Bannon
In August 2017, Guo met with Steve Bannon at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C. In 2018, Bannon signed a year-long deal for consulting services in exchange for $1 million. In late 2018, the pair launched the Rule of Law Foundation and the Rule of Law Society.[13][1:1]
In April 2020, Guo and Bannon co-founded GTV Media Group.[14]
On June 4, 2020, Guo and Bannon live-streamed an announcement of the launch of the New Federal State of China.[15]
Guo was an early investor in GETTR through a “family foundation.”[16]
In November 2021, Guo appeared in a music video promoting Himalaya Coin, the native token of cryptocurrency exchange Himalaya Exchange, with which Guo had a business relationship.[17][18] He shared a quote from Bannon describing the success of the new coin as “monumental” on GETTR.[19]
¶ Arrest in America
On March 6, 2023, an indictment was unsealed accusing Guo of a number of crimes including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.[1:2] He was listed as co-defendant alongside William Je.
Guo was arrested on March 15, 2023 on charges of fraud related to GTV Media Group and Himalaya Exchange.[20]
In April 2023, Steve Bannon suggested that he, U.S. President Donald Trump and Guo were all indicted for criticizing the Chinese government.[21]
¶ External links
23 CRIM 118. (2023, March 6). Cryptome; United States District Court Southern District of New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20230405092411/https://cryptome.org/2023/03/kwok-002.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Apps, A. M. (2023, March 15). Case 1:23-cv-02200 Document 1. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20230406075210/https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2023/comp25668.pdf ↩︎
Porter, T. (2023, March 17). The outlandish life of Guo Wengui, once one of China’s richest men and Steve Bannon confidant whom the DOJ accuses of a billion-dollar fraud. Business Insider. http://archive.today/2023.03.17-161232/https://www.businessinsider.com/guo-wengui-chinese-billionaire-ties-steve-bannon-arrested-fbi-arrested-2023-3 ↩︎
Business Insider. (2023, March 24). Inside the “mysterious” life of exiled Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui. South China Morning Post. http://archive.today/2023.03.24-092734/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3214670/inside-exiled-chinese-billionaire-guo-wenguis-mysterious-life-once-one-chinas-richest-men-business?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3214670 ↩︎
Davies, D. (2022, October 20). Journalist traces the peculiar story of Steve Bannon’s enigmatic Chinese benefactor. NPR. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330072621/https://www.npr.org/2022/10/20/1130184401/the-inscrutable-aims-of-steve-bannons-enigmatic-chinese-benefactor ↩︎
Needham, K. (2017, May 25). Tony Blair linked to China’s most wanted, Mar-a-Lago member Guo Wengui. The Sydney Morning Herald. http://archive.today/2020.09.27-054708/https://www.smh.com.au/world/tony-blair-linked-to-chinas-most-wanted-maralago-member-guo-wengui-20170525-gwd3rk.html ↩︎
Xiankang, C., Ning, Y., Ran, L., & Wei, H. (2019, November 5). 10 Years of Caixin: Exposing Fugitive Tycoon Guo Wengui. Caixin. http://archive.today/2021.03.10-153337/https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-11-05/10-years-of-caixin-exposing-fugitive-tycoon-guo-wengui-101479141.html ↩︎
Forsythe, M., & Weiser, B. (2023, March 30). The Undoing of Guo Wengui, Billionaire Accused of Fraud on 2 Continents. The New York Times. http://archive.today/2023.04.01-051058/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/us/guo-wengui-china.html ↩︎
Ungoed-Thomas, J. (2021, June 5). Tony Blair helped secure a £47 million penthouse for Chinese tycoon. Daily Mail Online. http://archive.today/2021.06.06-040515/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9655837/Tony-Blair-helped-secure-47million-penthouse-New-York-billionaire-Chinese-tycoon.html ↩︎
Nast, C. (2022, October 17). How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans. The New Yorker. http://archive.today/2023.03.16-030844/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/how-a-tycoon-linked-to-chinese-intelligence-became-a-darling-of-trump-republicans ↩︎
Holland, O., & Wang, S. (2019, August 21). Seized Beijing skyscraper sells online for a “bargain” $734M. CNN. http://archive.today/2022.12.16-074034/https://www.cnn.com/style/article/pangu-plaza-guo-wengui/index.html ↩︎
Needham, K. (2017, April 19). Interpol issues notice for flamboyant Chinese tycoon who is Trump club member. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818050414/https://www.smh.com.au/world/interpol-issues-notice-for-flamboyant-chinese-tycoon-who-is-trump-club-member-20170419-gvnu9b.html ↩︎
Schwartz, B. (2021, August 16). Mystery shrouds nonprofit linked to wealthy Chinese exile: Steve Bannon leaves, records kept secret. CNBC. http://archive.today/2021.08.17-053859/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/steve-bannon-leaves-mysterious-nonprofit-linked-to-wealthy-chinese-exile.html ↩︎
Lawson, C. (2020, October 26). The Strange Case of Guo Wengui. The Dispatch. http://archive.today/2023.01.20-220530/https://thedispatch.com/article/the-strange-case-of-guo-wengui/ ↩︎
Hatomi, H. (2020, June 8). The vision of the New Federal State of China… Asia Power Watch. https://web.archive.org/web/20200622204548/https://asiapowerwatch.com/the-vision-of-the-new-federal-state-of-china/ ↩︎
Sommer, W., Rawnsley, A., & Suebsaeng, A. (2021, July 1). Trumpworld App Is Bankrolled by Fugitive Chinese Billionaire. The Daily Beast. http://archive.today/2022.01.04-234806/https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpworld-app-is-bankrolled-by-fugitive-chinese-billionaire ↩︎
郭文贵. (2021, November 1). Hcoin to the Moon. YouTube. https://web.archive.org/web/20230410160445/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgof8s0ahxE ↩︎
Song, Z. (2021, November 12). A $27 Billion Token Loved by Exiled Billionaire and Steve Bannon. Bloomberg. http://archive.today/2021.11.13-014030/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-12/a-27-billion-token-loved-by-exiled-billionaire-and-steve-bannon ↩︎
MILES GUO [@Miles]. (2021, November 6). "NFSCTV on GETTR : 班农先生：喜币成功上市是丰碑式的，新中国联邦和新中国人现在有了新货币。新中国联邦的版图正各就各位，反共力量的制度化令人惊叹。对比中共造成的死亡和破坏，新中国联邦、爆料革命和文贵先生带来的是正面影响，用顶尖的科技、真实的资本、真实的领导力去支撑这样的体系发展壮大是非常了不起的。 Mr. Bannon: The initial success of H-Coin is monumental. The New Federal State of China and the New Chinese now have new currency. The territory of the NFSC is taking its place, and the institutionalization of anti-CCP forces is impressive. Compared with the death and destruction caused by the CCP, the NFSC, the Whistleblower Movement, and Mr. Miles have had a positive impact. Using top technology, real capital, and real leadership to support the development and growth of such a system is pretty remarkable." [Post]. GETTR. http://archive.today/2022.02.18-071332/https://gettr.com/post/pg6y60db1d ↩︎
Foley, S. (2023, March 15). Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui arrested on US fraud charges. Financial Times. http://archive.today/2023.03.15-171141/https://www.ft.com/content/c96bfcc3-1abe-4848-9cda-f09db5ec4cf7 ↩︎
Steve Bannon suggests that he, Donald Trump, and Miles Guo were indicted for criticizing the Chinese government. (2023, April 4). Media Matters for America. https://web.archive.org/web/20230409075223/https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-suggests-he-donald-trump-and-miles-guo-were-indicted-criticizing-chinese ↩︎