Longtime lieutenant and criminal co-defendant Chinese far-right breakaway tycoon Guo Wengui has agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges ahead of his upcoming trial. The development strengthens the position of federal prosecutors in the case who have called Guo’s staunch ally Steve Bannon a “conspirator.”
Yvette Wang, Guo’s former chief of staff and a suspected co-conspirator who defrauded thousands of Guo supporters out of more than $1 billion, has pleaded not guilty since her arrest in March 2023. Like Guo, who was arrested the same day and has also pleaded not guilty, Wang was denied bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk and has been jailed since his arrest. But a hearing is scheduled for Friday morning to change Wang’s plea to guilty, according to a brief order posted Thursday by District Court Judge Annalisa Torres.
Wang’s guilty plea is likely an effort to shorten her prison sentence. There is no indication that she has yet reached an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. But her plea nonetheless bolsters the case of large-scale fraud and racketeering against Guo. Another Guo associate charged in the case will not go to trial because he is a fugitive believed to be in the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Guo is a former Chinese real estate tycoon and billionaire who fled to the United States in 2015 shortly before Chinese authorities charged him with a series of financial crimes. In 2017, Guo began publicly announcing allegations of corruption and other wrongdoings against Chinese Communist Party leaders. His anti-communist pronouncements and China’s efforts to silence Guo or force his extradition have helped him win thousands of ardent supporters among Chinese immigrants and interest from American China hawks.
Shortly after Bannon was ousted from the Trump White House in 2017, he began working as an advisor and consultant to Guo, helping build his image as a courageous critic of the Chinese Communist Party and running a series of non-profits and organizations that he claims aim to “corrupt.” A media organization was launched. “Chinese Communist Party.” Wang, who had been Guo’s top aide since he entered the United States, was closely involved in those efforts. Guo’s organization has also supported Trump and regularly spread bizarre false claims about COVID-19 and the 2020 election.
Prosecutors charged last year that Chairman Guo’s political stance was fraudulent. They allege that Guo used an organization he started with Bannon to run the scam “to gather followers who sympathized with the campaign against the Chinese Communist Party and were inclined to believe (Guo’s) statements about investment and money-making opportunities.” them. They say he pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars in estimated investments, which he used to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a $3.5 million Ferrari, a $26 million mansion, a $30 million yacht, a $140,000 piano and two $36,000 mattresses. I blame you for using it.
Bannon has not been charged in the case, but in documents filed last month prosecutors labeled him a “conspirator” and noted that Guo received at least $1 million in funds they say were misappropriated from investors. The filing was part of prosecutors’ efforts to ensure that evidence related to the former Trump adviser can be admitted during trial. (Out-of-court statements that would be barred as hearsay can be used as evidence if they come from the alleged conspirator.) But that designation, along with Wang’s guilty plea, will likely raise more legal concerns for Bannon. If his appeal efforts fail, he faces a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress and a fraud trial scheduled in New York in a separate case.
