Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon greets fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui before introducing him at a news conference on November 20, 2018 in New York.
Don Emmert | AFP | Getty Images
Controversial exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui — an associate of former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon — was arrested Wednesday in New York for allegedly orchestrating a complex $1 billion fraud scheme that duped online followers with promises of outsized investment returns.
Guo allegedly used some of the money raised through his company GTV Media and other entities to buy a 50,000-square foot New Jersey mansion, a $37 million yacht, a $3.5 million Ferrari for his son, a $140,000 Bosendorfer piano and two Hasten 2000T mattresses that cost a whopping $36,000 apiece.
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Prosecutors seized more than $650 million in alleged fraud proceeds from 21 different bank accounts and assets that included a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster automobile as part of the case against Guo and his financial advisor William Je in Manhattan federal court.
Guo, 52, is due to appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
The Securities and Exchange Commission separately filed a related civil complaint against Guo and the 56-year-old Je, a resident of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong who remains at large. The SEC accuses Guo and Je of involvement in unregistered and fraudulent financial offerings.
The SEC separately accused Guo of making misrepresentations in raising hundreds of millions of dollars from investors through a cryptocurrency asset known as H-Coin.
Last September, three companies linked to Guo, including GTV Media, agreed to pay nearly $540 million to settle civil allegations by the SEC of making illegal offerings of stock and digital assets.
Guo, who is known by multiple different names, including Miles Guo and Miles Kwok, Brother Seven, and The Principal, has lived in the United States since 2015 after fleeing China, reportedly to duck looming corruption…
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