Image via Helayne Seidman/NY post
Federal fraud accusations have resulted in the arrest of billionaire Chinese exile Guo Wengui, who had connections to the previous Trump administration.
The exiled billionaire, according to CNN, is charged with organizing a $1 billion fraud operation in which he stole hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. Wengui, also known as “Ho Wan Kwok,” “Miles Kwok,” “Brother Seven,” and “The Principal,” is accused by the Department of Justice of soliciting investments into a number of businesses by “promising outsized financial returns and other benefits.” Wengui’s online profile is said to have been utilized by him and his alleged accomplice, Jin Ming Je, to promote the fraudulent deals involving GTV, his media company.
Federal investigators claim that between 2018 and March 2023, Wengui and Je, 56-year-old citizens of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, supported their opulent lifestyles with the money of investors. They claimed to have spent the “fraudulently obtained” money on pricey goods like a $62,000 TV, a $3.5 million Ferrari, a $4.4 million Bugatti, a 50,000 square foot estate in New Jersey, and a pair of $36,000 mattresses that were allegedly made of horse hair.
Wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering accusations were brought against Wengui and Je. The first was detained on Wednesday, while the second is allegedly still at large.
Wengui and Je were also the target of a separate legal lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants engaged in fraudulent securities offerings that brought in “at least hundreds of millions of dollars from investors” in the United States and other countries.