Exiled Chinese businessman with ties to Steve Bannon charged in $1bn fraud conspiracy in US
An exiled Chinese businessman with ties to former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been charged in the US with orchestrating a conspiracy to defraud his online followers out of more than $1bn.
Authorities said Guo Wengui cheated thousands of followers since 2018 by promising “outsized” investment returns, then using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle.
He allegedly bought himself and his family a $37m yacht, a 50,000 square-foot mansion in New Jersey, a $3.5m Ferrari for his son, a $62,000 TV and two $36,000 mattresses, according to authorities.
Guo, 52, was charged with 12 counts including wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.
He was arrested on Wednesday, and pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court. The judge ordered him to be detained without bail.
Steve Bannon is a former adviser to Donald Trump
On the day of his arrest, Guo’s apartment in a Manhattan hotel was found on fire, NBC reported a source familiar with the matter as saying.
An FBI spokesperson said officers were at the apartment when the fire broke out, after Guo was already in custody.
US attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Guo had been “lining his pockets with the money he stole”.
The US government has seized $634m from 21 bank accounts associated with Guo, as well as assets including a Lamborghini.
Guo’s financial adviser, Kin Ming Je, was also charged with the same counts, as well as obstruction of justice.
Je, who lives in London and is also known as William Je, has not been arrested yet.
Guo, who has used other names including Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Kwok, has been a business associate of Bannon, who was arrested in a fraud case in August 2020 while aboard Guo’s yacht.
Trump pardoned Bannon in the final hours of his presidency.
The Lady May yacht, worth $37m, was allegedly bought with the proceeds of the fraud conspiracy. Pic: Reuters/NBC New York
Guo was once believed to be among the richest people in China. He left in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping. Chinese authorities have accused Guo of rape, kidnapping and bribery.
Guo has argued the allegations against him in China were false, and were meant to punish him for publicly outing corruption and criticising leading figures in the Communist Party.
Guo’s next court appearance is on 4 April.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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