====== Guo Wengui ======

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**Guo Wengui**, also known as **Miles Guo**, **Ho Wan Kwok**, **Miles Kwok**, **Brother Seven**, **Guo Haoyun** and **The Principal**,((//23 CRIM 118.// (2023, March 6). Cryptome; United States District Court Southern District of New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20230405092411/https://cryptome.org/2023/03/kwok-002.pdf)) is a Chinese billionaire based in [[united_states:New York]].

Guo is the registered or functional owner of a number of companies including [[GTV Media Group]], [[G Clubs|G|CLUBS]], [[G Fashion|G|Fashion]] and [[G Music|G | Music]], and is an investor in [[GETTR]].

He is the father of [[Qiang Guo]], owner of [[Saraca Media Group]].((Apps, A. M. (2023, March 15). //Case 1:23-cv-02200 Document 1.// Securities and Exchange Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20230406075210/https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2023/comp25668.pdf))

===== History =====

==== Early life ====

Guo grew up in the farming village of [[china:Xicaoying]] with seven siblings.((Porter, T. (2023, March 17). //The outlandish life of Guo Wengui, once one of China’s richest men and Steve Bannon confidant whom the DOJ accuses of a billion-dollar fraud.// Business Insider. http://archive.today/2023.03.17-161232/https://www.businessinsider.com/guo-wengui-chinese-billionaire-ties-steve-bannon-arrested-fbi-arrested-2023-3))

==== Career ====

Guo was imprisoned in 1989, and upon his release, took a job with a [[china:Hong Kong]] entrepreneur named [[Xia Ping]].

In 1993, Guo ran a company called [[Big Boss Furniture]]. He then joined a project to build the first skyscraper hotel in [[china:henan:Zhengzhou]], the [[Yuda International Trade Centre]].((Business Insider. (2023, March 24). //Inside the “mysterious” life of exiled Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui.// South China Morning Post. http://archive.today/2023.03.24-092734/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3214670/inside-exiled-chinese-billionaire-guo-wenguis-mysterious-life-once-one-chinas-richest-men-business?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3214670)) Around 2002, he relocated to [[china:Beijing]].

According to the //[[New Yorker]],// Guo used [[sexual blackmail]] against Beijing's vice-mayor [[Liu Zhihua]] in order to secure a permit to build beside the site of the then-upcoming [[2008 Summer Olympics]]. The blackmail material was allegedly provided to Guo by a Chinese "spymaster" named [[Ma Jian]]. The plot of land was used to build the [[Pangu Plaza]].

==== Powerful associates ====

Guo reportedly travelled several times to meet the [[Dalai Lama]] on behalf of China's [[Ministry of State Security]].((Davies, D. (2022, October 20). //Journalist traces the peculiar story of Steve Bannon’s enigmatic Chinese benefactor.// NPR. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330072621/https://www.npr.org/2022/10/20/1130184401/the-inscrutable-aims-of-steve-bannons-enigmatic-chinese-benefactor)) He allegedly courted former British Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] since they met in 2008, purchasing five thousand copies of [[Cherie Blair]]'s autobiography in 2009 and donating to Blair's charities.((Needham, K. (2017, May 25). //Tony Blair linked to China’s most wanted, Mar-a-Lago member Guo Wengui.// The Sydney Morning Herald. http://archive.today/2020.09.27-054708/https://www.smh.com.au/world/tony-blair-linked-to-chinas-most-wanted-maralago-member-guo-wengui-20170525-gwd3rk.html)) ((Xiankang, C., Ning, Y., Ran, L., & Wei, H. (2019, November 5). //10 Years of Caixin: Exposing Fugitive Tycoon Guo Wengui.// Caixin. http://archive.today/2021.03.10-153337/https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-11-05/10-years-of-caixin-exposing-fugitive-tycoon-guo-wengui-101479141.html))

Shortly after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Guo invited [[Orville Schell]], Director of the [[Center on U.S.-China Relations]] at the [[Asia Society]], for a dinner at the [[Pangu Plaza]]. He also reportedly had dinners with former Secretaries of State [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[George Shultz]], and met with [[Kim Jong-un]] on a trip to [[North Korea]].((Forsythe, M., & Weiser, B. (2023, March 30). //The Undoing of Guo Wengui, Billionaire Accused of Fraud on 2 Continents.// The New York Times. http://archive.today/2023.04.01-051058/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/us/guo-wengui-china.html))

In or around 2013, [[Tony Blair]] agreed to introduce Guo to members of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, who allegedly gave Guo $3 billion.((Ungoed-Thomas, J. (2021, June 5). //Tony Blair helped secure a £47 million penthouse for Chinese tycoon.// Daily Mail Online. http://archive.today/2021.06.06-040515/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9655837/Tony-Blair-helped-secure-47million-penthouse-New-York-billionaire-Chinese-tycoon.html))

==== Defecting from China ====

In late 2014, Guo accused a rival named [[Li You]] of corruption. The conflict escalated into public view, bringing scrutiny onto Guo's relationship with the Chinese government and intelligence apparatus. On January 16, 2015, the [[Communist Party of China]] announced that Guo's intelligence colleague [[Ma Jian]] was under investigation. Guo fled to [[united_kingdom:england:London]], [[united_kingdom:England]] via [[china:Hong Kong]], eventually landing in [[united_states:new_york:New York City]].

==== Move to America ===

In 2015, Guo purchased a $68 million penthouse suite at Sherry-Netherland tower in the Upper East Side of [[united_states:New York:New York City]]. He reportedly provided a reference letter from [[UBS]] and a personal recommendation from [[Tony Blair]].((Nast, C. (2022, October 17). //How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans.// The New Yorker. http://archive.today/2023.03.16-030844/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/how-a-tycoon-linked-to-chinese-intelligence-became-a-darling-of-trump-republicans)) He allegedly provided intelligence on [[China]] to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), and to a lesser extent, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA).

Guo reportedly attempted to hire [[Jeh Johnson]], former Secretary of the [[United States Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS), as his lawyer.

At some point prior to [[Donald Trump]] becoming the [[republican_party:Republican]] candidate for [[President of the United States]], Guo became a member of Trump's [[Mar-a-Lago]] resort in [[united_states:Florida]].

News reports in March 2015 suggested that Guo and a Chinese intelligence officer named [[Ma Jian]] had engaged in "surveillance, [[blackmail]], and political influence to amass fortunes and evade scrutiny." Despite initially denying reports of intelligence ties, he later acknowledged that he was affiliated in some form with the [[Ministry of State Security]] in [[China]], completing tasks for the agency under the codename "Wu Nan."

In 2016, Chinese authorities seized ownership of Guo's [[Pangu Plaza]] tower. According to //[[CNN]],// a court in [[china:Beijing]] later listed it for sale on [[Alibaba]], selling it "for just under 5.19 billion yuan," equivalent to $734 million USD.((Holland, O., & Wang, S. (2019, August 21). //Seized Beijing skyscraper sells online for a “bargain” $734M.// CNN. http://archive.today/2022.12.16-074034/https://www.cnn.com/style/article/pangu-plaza-guo-wengui/index.html))

In January 2017, Guo created an account on [[Twitter]] and began conducting interviews in which he accused Chinese leaders of corruption. One target in particular was [[Wang Qishan]], who sued Guo for [[defamation]] in response. In April 2017, at the request of the Chinese government, [[Interpol]] issued a "red notice" for his arrest.((Needham, K. (2017, April 19). //Interpol issues notice for flamboyant Chinese tycoon who is Trump club member.// The Sydney Morning Herald. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818050414/https://www.smh.com.au/world/interpol-issues-notice-for-flamboyant-chinese-tycoon-who-is-trump-club-member-20170419-gvnu9b.html))

In June 2017, vice-minister of public security [[Sun Lijun]] made contact with [[Steve Wynn]], finance chair of the [[Republican National Committee]] (RNC). Sun asked for assistance in returning Guo to [[China]], and Wynn reportedly agreed to raise the issue with President Trump.

==== Ventures with Steve Bannon ====

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In August 2017, Guo met with [[Steve Bannon]] at the [[Hay-Adams Hotel]] in [[united_states:Washington, D.C.]] In 2018, Bannon signed a year-long deal for consulting services in exchange for $1 million. In late 2018, the pair launched the [[Rule of Law Foundation]] and the [[Rule of Law Society]].((Schwartz, B. (2021, August 16). //Mystery shrouds nonprofit linked to wealthy Chinese exile: Steve Bannon leaves, records kept secret.// CNBC. http://archive.today/2021.08.17-053859/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/steve-bannon-leaves-mysterious-nonprofit-linked-to-wealthy-chinese-exile.html)) ((//23 CRIM 118.// (2023, March 6). Cryptome; United States District Court Southern District of New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20230405092411/https://cryptome.org/2023/03/kwok-002.pdf))

In April 2020, Guo and Bannon co-founded [[GTV Media Group]].((Lawson, C. (2020, October 26). //The Strange Case of Guo Wengui.// The Dispatch. http://archive.today/2023.01.20-220530/https://thedispatch.com/article/the-strange-case-of-guo-wengui/))

On June 4, 2020, Guo and Bannon live-streamed an announcement of the launch of the [[New Federal State of China]].((Hatomi, H. (2020, June 8). //The vision of the New Federal State of China...// Asia Power Watch. https://web.archive.org/web/20200622204548/https://asiapowerwatch.com/the-vision-of-the-new-federal-state-of-china/))

Guo was an early investor in [[GETTR]] through a "family foundation."((Sommer, W., Rawnsley, A., & Suebsaeng, A. (2021, July 1). //Trumpworld App Is Bankrolled by Fugitive Chinese Billionaire.// The Daily Beast. http://archive.today/2022.01.04-234806/https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpworld-app-is-bankrolled-by-fugitive-chinese-billionaire))  

In November 2021, Guo appeared in a music video promoting Himalaya Coin, the native token of [[cryptocurrency]] exchange [[Himalaya Exchange]], with which Guo had a business relationship.((郭文贵. (2021, November 1). //Hcoin to the Moon.// YouTube. https://web.archive.org/web/20230410160445/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgof8s0ahxE)) ((Song, Z. (2021, November 12). //A $27 Billion Token Loved by Exiled Billionaire and Steve Bannon.// Bloomberg. http://archive.today/2021.11.13-014030/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-12/a-27-billion-token-loved-by-exiled-billionaire-and-steve-bannon)) He shared a quote from Bannon describing the success of the new coin as "monumental" on [[GETTR]].((MILES GUO [@Miles]. (2021, November 6). //NFSCTV on GETTR : 班农先生：喜币成功上市是丰碑式的，新中国联邦和新中国人现在有了新货币。新中国联邦的版图正各就各位，反共力量的制度化令人惊叹。对比中共造成的死亡和破坏，新中国联邦、爆料革命和文贵先生带来的是正面影响，用顶尖的科技、真实的资本、真实的领导力去支撑这样的体系发展壮大是非常了不起的。  Mr. Bannon: The initial success of H-Coin is monumental. The New Federal State of China and the New Chinese now have new currency. The territory of the NFSC is taking its place, and the institutionalization of anti-CCP forces is impressive. Compared with the death and destruction caused by the CCP, the NFSC, the Whistleblower Movement, and Mr. Miles have had a positive impact. Using top technology, real capital, and real leadership to support the development and growth of such a system is pretty remarkable.// GETTR. http://archive.today/2022.02.18-071332/https://gettr.com/post/pg6y60db1d))

==== Arrest in America ====

On March 6, 2023, an indictment was unsealed accusing Guo of a number of crimes including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, and [[money laundering]].((//23 CRIM 118.// (2023, March 6). Cryptome; United States District Court Southern District of New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20230405092411/https://cryptome.org/2023/03/kwok-002.pdf)) He was listed as co-defendant alongside [[William Je]].

Guo was arrested on March 15, 2023 on charges of fraud related to [[GTV Media Group]] and [[Himalaya Exchange]].((Foley, S. (2023, March 15). //Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui arrested on US fraud charges.// Financial Times. http://archive.today/2023.03.15-171141/https://www.ft.com/content/c96bfcc3-1abe-4848-9cda-f09db5ec4cf7))

In April 2023, [[Steve Bannon]] suggested that he, U.S. President [[Donald Trump]] and Guo were all indicted for criticizing the [[china|Chinese]] government.((//Steve Bannon suggests that he, Donald Trump, and Miles Guo were indicted for criticizing the Chinese government.// (2023, April 4). Media Matters for America. https://web.archive.org/web/20230409075223/https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-suggests-he-donald-trump-and-miles-guo-were-indicted-criticizing-chinese))

===== External links =====

  * [[https://opensea.io/collection/miles-guo|OpenSea]]
  * [[https://wiki.whiteroseintelligence.com/en/Guo-Wengui|White Rose Wiki]]
  * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Wengui|Wikipedia]]