The Chinese Bernie Madoff: the mastermind who swindled a billion dollars from innocent Americans was arrested
Guo Wengui is suspected of defrauding thousands of people in the amount of about one billion dollars through fictitious and dubious investment schemes
The US government is charging fugitive Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with conspiring to defraud investors on a massive scale.
The man is suspected of defrauding hundreds of thousands of online followers and luring them with anti-Chinese rhetoric to invest their money in his business, US law enforcement officials say.
The indictments against the entrepreneur and his business partner Qin Ming Ji were filed on Wednesday this week.
The main suspect was identified in the legal documents under several names.
The main name was Ho Wan-kwok, but he had five other nicknames including – ‘The Seven Brother’, ‘The Manager’, although he was mostly known as Guo Wengui.
Wengui, and his accomplice Ming Jie, have been charged with bank fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice – they are facing several decades in prison.
Guo himself was arrested Wednesday morning and pleaded not guilty at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
The Chinese businessman allegedly “led an elaborate conspiracy to defraud thousands of online followers out of $1 billion,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said.
A vocal critic of the Chinese government, Guo had lived in the US since about 2015. He used registered nonprofits to spread his messages in order to gain an online following.
He then used the trust he gained from the people to deceive his followers with promises of “increased” investment returns, according to the allegations, even though these promises were without any basis.
Guo was also a business partner of political strategist Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former US President Donald Trump.
The two were partners in the media business.
In 2020, Bannon was arrested on Guo’s yacht, the Lady May. Trump himself pardoned Bannon in the last days of his presidency.
The charges against Guo echo other charges he faced when he was a resident of China where he was considered a real estate tycoon before he left his homeland in 2014.
The Chinese authorities accused him of bribery and embezzlement, and put him on an international wanted list through Interpol in 2017.
Guo actually claimed to be a pro-Western whistleblower and exile seeking to expose the injustices committed by Beijing and who only found political asylum in the United States as a persecuted refugee.
Now it seems that he will find refuge behind bars.
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