Chinese exile Guo Wengui files for bankruptcy after yacht dispute
- Businessman was last week told to pay US$134 million fine or face arrest for violating court order to keep his vessel in American waters
- The luxury yacht, called the Lady May, made the news in 2020 when Trump strategist Steve Bannon was arrested on board
It came after a state judge last week ordered Guo to pay a fine of US$134 million or face arrest, because he had violated a court order to keep his luxury yacht in American waters as part of a dispute over debts that he owed.
Guo, who filed for bankruptcy in the state of Connecticut under the name Ho Wen Kwok, appealed the judge’s order last week to forfeit the US$135 million, and claimed that he does not own the yacht, according to Bloomberg.
His lawyer in the bankruptcy case, William Baldega, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Guo has been closely associated with Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, who was arrested in 2020 while on the same yacht, called the Lady May.
Bannon and Guo have partnered on media ventures, and both men made names for themselves as some of the Trump era’s most vocal opponents of the Communist Party, although Guo has also been accused of being a spy for Beijing.
Last September, three of Guo’s media companies – GTV Media Group, Saraca Media Group and Voice of Guo Media Inc – were ordered by a judge to pay US$539 million in penalties related to illegal cryptocurrency sales.
Guo is also said to be behind Trump’s new social media app, called GETTR, which the former president started after being kicked off mainstream American platforms like Twitter and Facebook after inciting the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Firms tied to fugitive Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui settle US$539 million fines
Guo, a former real estate tycoon, is wanted by Beijing for a range of crimes including bribery and sexual assault, charges he has said are politically motivated.
After leaving China, Guo settled into a palatial apartment in Manhattan, across the street from Central Park on Fifth Avenue, which he bought for US$67.5 million in 2015, and then became vocal on social media in the US, threatening to expose corruption at the highest levels in Beijing.
In his bankruptcy filing this week, Guo said he now owed between US$100 and US$500 million, to somewhere between 50 and 99 creditors. He listed his net worth as between US$50,001 and US$100,000.
According to the filing, the claimants include the Cayman Islands-based Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund LP, a unit of the Hong Kong-based Pacific Alliance Investment, which sued Guo for an unpaid loan and unsuccessfully tried to lay claim to his New York apartment in 2017. Guo said he owes the fund approximately US$254 million.
