Chinese fugitive tycoon Miles Guo shakes hands with Steve Bannon at a press conference. (Screengrab from Al Jazeera via YouTube)
Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui, a Steve Bannon associate and self-styled “political dissident and anti-corruption whistleblower,” has been arrested and indicted by federal prosecutors in an alleged billion-dollar fraud scheme.
Born Ho Wan Kwok, Guo goes by many other aliases, including Miles Guo, Miles Kwok, “Brother Seven,” and “The Principal.” He exploded onto the U.S. political scene during the Donald Trump era through his ties to the former president’s one-time chief strategist. He is also a member of Trump’s club Mar-a-Lago.
Wanted in China on corruption and rape charges, Guo fled to the United States in 2014 and he burnished an image here as a dissident. Guo and Bannon appeared onstage together during a press conference on November 2018, announcing the so-called “Rule of Law” fund purporting to expose corruption in China. Bannon, who became its chairman, was on Guo’s yacht when he was arrested for allegedly defrauding We Build the Wall donors, charges for which Trump pardoned him.
On Wednesday, it was Guo’s turn to be arrested by U.S. federal authorities.
“As alleged, Ho Wan Kwok, known to many as ‘Miles Guo,’ led a complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of over $1 billion dollars,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Kwok is charged with lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying himself, and his close 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.”
The most recent charges against Guo do not have any public connection to Bannon, who is being prosecuted separately in New York State court on unrelated charges. The only co-defendant listed in Guo’s indictment is Kin Ming Je, also known as “William Je,” a dual Hong Kong and U.K. national. Prosecutors say that Je owned and operated “numerous companies and investments central to the scheme,” serving as its “financial architect and key money launderer.”
Prosecutors say that Guo lied to his victims and promised them lucrative returns if they invested in a number of entities such as GTV Media Group, Himalaya Farm Alliance, G|CLUBS, and the Himalaya Exchange. GTV sold $452 million worth of stock to more than 5,500 investors.
Prosecutors released photographs of their alleged ill-gotten gains.
Prosecutors say this 145-foot luxury yacht, worth approximately $37 million, was maintained with misappropriated millions from one of Guo’s ventures. (Photo via DOJ)
On its website, G|CLUBS billed itself as “an exclusive, high-end membership program offering a full spectrum of services” and “a gateway to carefully curated world-class products, services and experiences.” Prosecutors say, however, that it used “a complex web of entities and bank accounts” to route victims’ money to Guo’s 50,000 square foot New Jersey mansion, adorned with $978,000 worth of Chinese and Persian rugs, a $62,000 television, and a $53,000 fireplace log cradle holder.
Guo’s New Jersey mansion (Photo via DOJ)
The defendants were simultaneously charged civilly by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We allege that Guo was a serial fraudster, who raised more than $850 million by promising investors outsized returns on purported crypto, technology and luxury good investment opportunities,” the SEC’s Enforcement Division director Gurbir S. Grewal wrote. “In reality, Guo took advantage of the hype and allure surrounding crypto and other investments to victimize thousands and fund his and his family’s lavish lifestyle.”
Guo, 52, and Je, 56, both face 11 federal charges that could carry close to a 200-year maximum prison sentence on counts including wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
Je, who remains at large, separately faces a count of obstruction of justice, which carries an additional 20-year maximum sentence.
Read the indictment here.
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