Hunted by China, which accuses him of financial fraud in his country, the billionaire Guo Wengui he was finally caught by the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan.
From his golden exile, in his luxurious apartment in Manhattan, he presented himself as a fierce opponent of the Chinese regime, ready to join forces with the sulphurous Steve Bannon for his cause and his business. Billionaire Guo Wengui was arrested in New York on Wednesday March 15, accused of having cheated thousands of investors. Hunted by China, which accuses him of financial fraud in his country, he was finally caught by the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan.
Arrested this Wednesday morning in New York, Guo Wengui, 52, was to be presented to a judge in the afternoon. He is the subject of an indictment containing eleven charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering; crimes mostly punishable by 20 years in prison.
American justice has also seized more than 630 million dollars from bank accounts or real estate and securities, such as a sumptuous mansion of more than 4,600 m2 in New Jersey or luxury vehicles from the Bugatti brands. , Lamborghini or Rolls Royce.
Guo Wengui is accused of having taken advantage of his notoriety on the internet since 2018 to encourage thousands of people to invest funds in his companies or projects, such as GTV Private Placement, or G/Clubs, which promised profitable investments or services of luxury, but above all would have allowed him to “fill his pockets”, in the words of Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams.
Bannon arrested on his yacht
The billionaire “conducted a complex fraud to defraud more than a billion dollars from thousands of people who follow him online”, added the federal prosecutor. One of his lawyers, contacted by AFP, did not respond immediately.
The businessman, who had made his fortune in real estate, moved to the United States in 2015, fleeing China where he was targeted by an Interpol red notice, for financial fraud he denies. A fierce critic of Beijing, while finding qualities in President Xi Jinping – and Donald Trump – the businessman promised to do everything to democratize the Chinese regime.
“I want to try to achieve a rule of law, to achieve democracy, freedom, this is my ultimate goal, a change of the regime”, if possible “within three years”, he explained in 2017 to AFP, in his luxurious apartment in Manhattan, facing Central Park. A year later, he had formalized an alliance with Donald Trump’s sulphurous former adviser and figure of the American hard right Steve Bannon, in order to expose the crimes perpetrated according to them by the Chinese government.
It was also on the Chinese businessman’s yacht that Steve Bannon was arrested in August 2020, in an embezzlement case linked to the wall project against immigration on the Mexican border, a promise flagship of the former Republican president. An alleged accomplice of Guo Wengui, his “financial” Kin Ming Je, is also the subject of the indictment of the federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan but he is “at large” and wanted by American justice.
