Guo Wengui, a well-known Chinese Communist Party critic in exile in the United States, is constantly exposed when he reveals the so-called “inside story” of the Chinese Communist Party.
Some Chinese media have reported that Guo Wengui, whose headquarters is in Shandong and started his real estate career in Beijing, used the social circle “Pangu Club” as a platform to befriend high-ranking officials and weave a network of interest-sharing. Guo Wengui fled China in 2014 and went into exile in the United States. He was charged in China with bribery, fraud, money laundering, kidnapping and rape. But Guo Wengui denied the allegations and applied for political asylum in the United States.
Since 2015, Guo Wengui has been living in a tens-of-million-dollar apartment on the 18th floor of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York. He posted a lot of information on social media and started an anti-Chinese and anti-communist “disclosure revolution” on the internet, mainly as a former contact of high-ranking Communist Party officials, revealing the news of high-level corruption scandals within the Communist Party group.
Because of his anti-communist stance, American hardliners support him towards China, including ex-US President Trump and ex-adviser Bannon. Guo Wengui has been in exile since he went to the United States, and there have been many court cases.
In July 2019, Strategic Vision US LLC, a Washington-based investigative firm with which Guo Wengui had a business dispute, sued Guo Wengui in federal court for spying for the Chinese government.
On June 4, 2020, Guo Wengui announced the formation of the “New China Federation” along with Bannon, who served as chief strategic adviser during Trump’s tenure, and Hao Haidong, a former China international. Guo Wengui once said that he and Bannon are “powerful allies” in the fight for freedom and democracy in China.
In May 2021, Graphika, an analytics company, released an investigation report, saying Guo Wengui set up a network to spread false information on the Internet, including GTV, a video platform owned by GTV Media Group. The GTV fundraising storm sparked a three-way dispute, with Guo Wengui, his supporters and critics expressing their own opinions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, GTV’s fundraising caused deep divisions among Chinese expatriates in the United States, and many of the company’s investors were later convinced they had been swindled. After some of them started contacting the Securities and Exchange Commission and law enforcement agencies, Mr. Guo repeatedly assaulted them online, calling them Chinese Communist Party agents. Mr. Guo’s supporters then began to show up at his critics’ doorsteps.
According to JiameiLu, a confectioner who claimed to have been a victim of the financial fraud, the fraud was committed by GTV, which is linked to Guo Wengui and Bannon. Lu is one of many GTV investors.
Lu said that after meeting with FBI agents in New York, Guo Wengui accused her of being a Chinese spy in an online video and described her in vulgar language. According to Guo Wengui, GTV raised billions of dollars in the spring of 2020, and some investors, including Lu, said they were later convinced they had been scammed and reported their concerns to the authorities.
Besides Guo Wengui himself, Bannon is also one of GTV’s shareholders. In August 2020, Bannon was accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars to help build a high wall on the US-Mexico border to prevent migrants from crossing the border. However, Trump ordered an amnesty for Bannon before he left the White House in January 2021.
In September 2021, three Guo Wengui-affiliated media companies, GTV Media Group, Saraca Media Group and Voici of Guo MediaInc, raised about US$487 million from more than 5,000 investors and were accused of illegal fundraising and finally the lawsuit was settled by the Payment of $539 million.
The South China Morning Post once reported that Guo Wengui borrowed $30 million from the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund in 2008 but never repaid the loan. Over the years, Guo Wengui owed up to $116 million.
Guo filed for bankruptcy after a New York judge found him liable for the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund.
According to Britain’s The Independent in February 2022, a New York state judge ruled that Guo Wengui had concealed billions of dollars in assets, including the super-luxury yacht Lady May.
Noting that the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund had called Guo Wengui’s bankruptcy a “fraud,” The Wall Street Journal said in a document submitted to the court in May 2022 that appointing a trustee would not do creditors any better would bring results. But the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund said it would support the appointment of a trustee if Judge Manning didn’t dismiss the case. Judge Manning also said her ruling supports the establishment of a trustee because Guo Wengui has valuable assets, including the super-luxury yacht Lady May, which could be used to repay creditors.
In May 2022, Guo Wengui proposed dropping off the personal bankruptcy case, saying he could not afford the rising costs of handling the largest creditor’s lawsuit. However, a US bankruptcy court judge has ruled to dismiss the personal bankruptcy case of exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui.
Over the past decade, Guo Wengui, a businessman, has portrayed his anti-communist character playing on his way to exile, indulging in his own fabricated lies to amuse himself, to find his peers and pursue gold.
Guo’s revelations in this regard continue to cause a stir without confirmation. However, regarding Guo Wengui’s disclosures, The New York Times once said that Guo Wengui’s claims and some statements are absurd and could be easily debunked. The Wall Street Journal says many of Guo Wengui’s allegations are difficult to independently prove. According to Financial News, some of Guo Wengui’s claims are contradictory or have no evidence, but Guo’s fans don’t care.
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