Leaked audio indicates fugitive tycoon Guo Wengui asked former Obama homeland security chief to help him extend stay in US
Kevin Tung says a longer US stay by the fugitive Chinese billionaire would make it easier to recover assets that Tung’s clients are trying to claim
A New York-based lawyer representing dozens of parties suing Guo Wengui, a tycoon wanted by China’s government, welcomed news that Guo might be seeking to extend his stay in the US because such a move would make it easier to recover assets his clients are trying to claim.
The comment by Kevin Tung of the law firm Kevin Kerveng Tung PC follows the publication of a recording between Guo and former US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson wherein Johnson, now a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, offered to represent Guo in his bid to apply for the right to remain in the US.
“I want to help you. You’re someone I want to help. You and your family. You and your lovely wife and your two children,” Johnson is heard saying on the recording before instructing Guo to set up a meeting with him at the midtown Manhattan office of Paul Weiss before meeting with any representatives of the Chinese government or the US Federal Bureau of Investigations. Johnson also asks Guo to not discuss the meeting caught on the recording, which is heavily edited.
“I am the only member of Barack Obama’s cabinet that has met with Donald Trump,” Johnson was heard saying in the recording. “I wrote him a personal letter yesterday.”
He was also heard asking if Guo has made donations to charities in the US, and told Guo that his influence in the US might increase if he had donated to human rights organisations.
