Guo Wengui, Chinese businessmen in exile in the United States, were arrested

Guo Wengui, 52, was “arrested this morning in New York City,” the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday. Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, unsealed a 12-count indictment charging Mr. Guo and an accomplice, Je Kin Ming, Involving various wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges. Guo Wengui was arrested in New York City on Monday morning and appeared in court in the afternoon. Yu Jianming is on the run.

Agence France-Presse reports that Guo, who has presented himself as a fierce critic of the Communist regime and a staunch defender of democracy while maintaining close ties to the fanatic American right-winger Bannon, could now face several 20-year prison terms. Bannon is a director of Guo Wengui’s company, GTV Media Group, according to the report.

In a 2017 interview with AFP in his luxury apartment in Manhattan, New York, Guo Wengui promised: “I want to try to achieve the rule of law (in China), democracy, freedom, that’s my ultimate goal, and change the regime within three years if possible.” Mr Guo has strongly denied allegations of fraud by the Chinese authorities.

Guo Wengui was once a multibillion-dollar property tycoon in China. Guo Wengui is an exiled businessman who has lived in the United States since 2015 and has a large online following, according to a US justice Agency press release. Around 2018, Guo set up two purported nonprofit organizations, the Rule of Law Foundation and the Rule of Law Association, to gather supporters “aligned with his stated policy goals in China.” Mr Guo has used his popularity as a critic of the Chinese government to gain a large online following. His followers also tend to believe they stand to make handsome profits if they invest in Mr Guo’s companies.

New York prosecutors allege that “Guo Wengui orchestrated a vast and complex scheme to defraud thousands of his online followers out of more than $1 billion. Guo is accused of enriching himself with the stolen money, including buying a 50,000-square-foot mansion for himself and his close relatives, a $3.5 million Ferrari and even two mattresses worth $36,000, and financing a $37 million luxury yacht