Guo Wengui: How a Chinese tycoon built a pro-Trump money machine
6 days ago Mike Wendling & Grace Tsoi BBC News
An exiled Chinese billionaire has now been found guilty of multiple charges, including fraud and money laundering. Here's a look into how Guo Wengui, who built up a real estate empire in China, went on to run a billion dollar scam in the US.
In early June 2020, at the tail end of the city's first Covid lockdown, a fleet of small planes baffled New Yorkers.
They circled overhead towing banners that read: "Congratulations to the New Federal State of China" and flew an unfamiliar-looking blue flag.
Was it a prank? A stunt? Weird propaganda?
The mystery was solved a few days later when Guo and former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon appeared live online.
Together on a boat near the Statue of Liberty, with the same blue flag in the background, they awkwardly took turns speaking to the camera.
"We must eliminate Marxism-Leninism, the pariah and totalitarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party," Guo declared.
It was the latest collaboration between the two men, who built large networks of online followers based on their shared obsessions: opposition to China's rulers, fealty to the Trump wing of the Republican Party, and conspiracy theories about Covid and vaccines.
Four years after that livestream, Guo was found guilty on nine out of the 12 criminal counts he faced, including racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
The money trail
According to prosecutors, Guo used his connections and online influence to defraud his supporters.
Thousands of Chinese dissidents - most living abroad - sent money, thinking they were buying shares in his businesses and cryptocurrency.
But instead of being invested, authorities say, the money was used by Guo and a London-based business partner, Kin Ming Je, to fund extravagant purchases - including expensive properties, a yacht, sports cars, risky hedge fund investments, $1 million worth of rugs and a $140,000 piano.
The BBC spoke to several followers who say they gave thousands of dollars to Guo's organisations.
"I watched his livestreams every day," said Coco, a Chinese immigrant who has been living in the US for a decade. We are not using her full name because she fears retribution from Guo's followers.
"The videos are very sensational… and we trust[ed] him completely," she said.
Like many of his followers, Coco was drawn in by Guo's opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, and his claims to have access to dirt on senior Chinese officials.
She became suspicious after investing in GTV, a media company founded by Guo and Bannon. She got invited to a WhatsApp group promising exclusive access to the tycoon, and joined protests outside the home of one of Guo's opponents. She says the protesters were meant to get paid, but never did.
"We slowly discovered that he never fulfilled his promises," she said.
Coco says she invested $6,000. One of her friends apparently gave more than $100,000 in order to become a "chair" - a member of Guo's inner circle.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65019134