March 15 (UPI) — Exiled Chinese billionaire and Steve Bannon associate Guo Wengui was arrested Wednesday in New York on fraud charges.
Guo founded GTV Media Group in 2020 with Steve Bannon, who was arrested on a yacht owned by Guo in August 2020.
On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges accusing Guo of defrauding investors.
According to the complaint, Guo and his financial adviser William Je “misappropriated a large portion of the funds raised from investors to enrich themselves and their family members.”
“We allege that Guo was a serial fraudster who raised more than $850 million by promising investors outsized return on purported crypto, technology, and luxury-goods investment opportunities,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement.
In its complaint, the SEC “seeks a conduct-based injunction that prohibits Guo from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any securities, other than from his own personal accounts.”
In September 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against GTV for illegally offering register crypto assets known as “G-Coins” and “G-Dollars.”
“Thousands of investors purchased GTV stocks G-Coins and G-Dollars based on the respondents’ solicitation of the general public with limited disclosures,” said Richard Best, the SEC’s New York Regional Office director.
In 2020, Steve Bannon was arrested for defrauding investors of his private effort to build a border wall on Guo’s 152-foot-yacht, the “Lady May.”
Bannon avoided charges via a pardon from then-President Donald Trump but was charged with money laundering and conspiracy in September 2022.
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