The United States arrested a Chinese man on charges of defrauding a billion dollars. The detainee is known for his connections with figures of the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, his advisor who caused many riots. He was arrested on suspicion of embezzling a billion dollars
A Chinese billionaire, Guo Wengui, 54, was arrested in the US on charges of embezzling $1 billion, indicted in a federal court in Manhattan, they are accused of various crimes, including illegal transfers, misappropriation of securities and bank fraud.
US prosecutors said the indictment stemmed from an elaborate scheme in which Guo lied to hundreds of thousands of online customers in the US and around the world before illegally embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Senior Manhattan federal prosecutor Damien Williams said in a statement that Guo was accused of “lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying himself and his relatives a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari, and even two $36,000 mattresses, and financing a $37 million luxury yacht “.
Guo is among the richest people in China. He left in 2014 during an anti-corruption probe led by President Xi Jinping that arrested people close to Guo, including a senior intelligence official. Chinese authorities accused Guo of kidnapping, bribery and other crimes.
Since then, he has been highly sought after by China, relying on the US to protect him. Living in New York as a fugitive, he became an outspoken critic of the ruling Communist Party and developed a close relationship with Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former political strategist. Guo and Bannon in 2020 announced the establishment of a joint initiative that they say is designed to overthrow the Chinese government.
Guo claimed the charges against him in China were false, saying they were intended to punish him for going public with corruption there and criticizing leading figures in the Communist Party. For years, his case has been the subject of debate over whether China is abusing international law enforcement cooperation efforts, including Interpol, in seeking his arrest. He has sought asylum in the United States, saying he fears that if he is forced to leave the country, it could lead to his arrest in a country with less power to resist Chinese demands.
US prosecutors accuse Guo of lying to his victims, promising them exorbitant returns if they invested money in his media company. Prosecutor Williams said that, between September 2022 and this month, the US government seized about $634 million from 21 bank accounts, Showing most of Guo’s scam revenue.