https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-15-2023
"The Justice Department today announced the arrest of Chinese billionaire Guo
Wengui, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, charged with defrauding
followers of more than $1 billion. The 12-count indictment for wire fraud,
securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering says Guo and a
co-conspirator, Kin Ming Je, raised money by promising stock in Guo’s GTV Media
Group, a high-end club, or cryptocurrency but then used the money themselves
for items that included a $53,000 fireplace log holder, a watch storage box
that cost almost $60,000, and two $36,000 mattresses, as well as more typical
luxury items: a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a Lamborghini, and designer
furniture.
The U.S. government seized more than $630 million from multiple bank accounts
as well as other assets purchased with illicit money. If convicted, Guo faces
up to 20 years in prison. Guo has attracted donors by developing the idea that
he is a principled opponent of the Chinese Communist Party, but Dan Friedman,
who writes on lobbying and corruption for
Mother Jones, points out that this
persona appears to be a grift.
Guo is close to sometime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who was reading a book on
Guo’s yacht, Lady May, when federal officers arrested him in 2020 for
defrauding donors of $25 million in his “We Build the Wall” fundraising
campaign. Rather than constructing a wall, Bannon and three associates funneled
that money to themselves. Trump pardoned Bannon for that scheme hours before he
left office.
Friedman points out that prosecutors say Guo’s criminal conspiracy began in
2018, which is the year that Guo and Bannon launched The Rule of Law Foundation
and the Rule of Law Society. They claimed the organizations would defend human
rights in China and then, according to prosecutors, lured donors to other
products.
In April 2020, Guo and Bannon formed the GTV Media Group, which flooded the
news with disinformation before the 2020 election, especially related to Hunter
Biden and the novel coronavirus. Sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission in September 2021 for the illegal sale of cryptocurrency, GTV paid
more than $539 million to settle the case. Bannon’s
War Room webcast features
Guo performing its theme song."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
