A fire broke out at a famous Manhattan hotel hours after an exiled Chinese billionaire living in the building was arrested on charges of plotting a $1 billion scam.
Guo Wengui, who has ties to far-right arsonist Steve Bannon, was arrested around 6am Wednesday morning at his $32 million apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on the Upper East Side.
The fire broke out around noon and the FBI is now investigating whether it was linked to Guo’s arrest. The two-alarm fire burned for several hours before it could be brought under control, and FDNY crews are now conducting security checks.
Guo is expected to appear in court this afternoon on 12 charges related to the massive fraud. He scammed his legion of online followers with bogus investments, then injected the money into a mansion and other outrageous luxuries, prosecutors claim.
The business magnate, who also uses aliases like Ho Wan Kwok, spent the money on a 50,000-square-foot mansion in New Jersey, a Lamborghini supercar and a luxury yacht valued at about $37 million.
Hours after Guo Wengui was arrested at his $32 million apartment on Wednesday, a fire broke out at the famous Sherry-Netherland Hotel
Guo Wengui was pictured on the balcony of his New York apartment in November 2017. He is now accused of orchestrating a $1 billion scam and spending the money on luxury items including a yacht, mansion and $36,000 mattresses
Smoke billowed from the luxury hotel’s upper floors as firefighters rushed to the scene hours after Guo Wengui was arrested
The FBI is investigating whether the two-alarm fire is linked to the arrest of Guo Wengui on charges of masterminds of a $1 billion fraud
He also showed off about $978,000 in Chinese and Persian rugs, a $62,000 television, a $53,000 firewood holder and two mattresses that cost $36,000 each, federal investigators say .
Prosecutors on Wednesday revealed information about the sophisticated scam, as well as extraordinary details about the luxury goods stolen from Guo. Guo is being charged along with his financial adviser William Je, a dual Hong Kong/UK citizen who acted as the “financial architect and key money launderer” of the fraud.
The pair reportedly convinced investors to give them cash that they would turn into a huge return in what prosecutors are calling a classic pyramid scheme.
About $634 million held in 21 different bank accounts was also seized by investigators, US attorneys said.
US Attorney Damian Williams said: “Ho Wan Kwok, known to many as ‘Miles Guo’, led a complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of over $1 billion.
“Kwok is accused of lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying himself and his close relatives, a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari and even two mattresses worth $36,000; and financing a $37 million luxury yacht.”
Guo is closely associated with Bannon, the right-wing arsonist who helped Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election and then served as the White House’s chief strategist.
Bannon was arrested in August 2020 on Guo’s 152-foot yacht Lady May on fraud allegations related to the “We Build the Wall” fundraiser for a US-Mexico wall.
Guo Wengui is pictured on the left with Steve Bannon on the right. In 2018, Guo teamed up with Bannon to use a gimmick to overthrow the Chinese communist government
Prosecutors have seized Guo’s $37 million Lady May yacht, on which former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was arrested in 2020 on unrelated charges on board
Prosecutors released images of a 50,000-square-foot New Jersey mansion that Guo allegedly bought with cash obtained from the scam
A $4.4 million custom-built Bugatti Veyron supercar seized by authorities who say Guo orchestrated a $1 billion scam
Prosecutors in New York say Guo made false claims about “investment and money-making opportunities” to his hundreds of thousands of online followers. He founded two non-profit organizations, the Rule of Law Foundation and the Rule of Law Society, and allegedly used them as a cover for his fraud.
Guo, Je and unnamed accomplices made hundreds of millions of dollars net by encouraging bogus investments by his followers.
Prosecutors obtained warrants in September last year to begin confiscating the ill-gotten gains.
The SEC also filed indictments today against Guo and Je alleging “multiple bid fraud” targeting retail investors online and through social media.
“Since around April 2020, Guo has conducted fraudulent securities offerings that have collectively raised at least hundreds of millions of dollars from investors in the United States and around the world,” the SEC case said.
‘Unknown to these investors, Guo and his financial adviser Je embezzled a large portion of the funds derived from certain offerings to enrich themselves and their family members.’
Guo made billions from business ventures in China before fleeing to the US in 2014 to avoid arrest on charges of bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape
Steve Bannon and Guo are friends, and the couple once performed a stunt flying a plane with an anti-CCP banner over the Statue of Liberty.
Guo was spotted at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in December 2018 in exclusive pictures released by
The exiled Chinese billionaire, pictured in Mar-a-Lago in 2018, filed for bankruptcy last year and claimed he was worth less than $100,000 – despite living in a $37 million apartment
Guo made billions from business ventures in China before fleeing to the US in 2014 to avoid arrest on charges of bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape.
He filed for bankruptcy in the US in February last year, claiming his fortune has dwindled to less than $100,000.
In 2018, Guo teamed up with Bannon to use a gimmick to overthrow the Chinese communist government. They performed a stunt flying a plane with an anti-CCP banner over the Statue of Liberty.
Guo also spilled his own blood on a document in which he vowed to overthrow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s party.