A bizarre conman who mobilises mobs to physically attack those who expose his chicanery.
When Chinese tycoon and notable dissident Guo Wengui was charged with masterminding a $1bn fraud, it was only the latest chapter in the saga of a man with connections to powerful people in China, the US and the UK.
In early June 2020, at the tail end of the city's first Covid lockdown, a fleet of small planes baffled New Yorkers. They circled overhead towing banners that read: "Congratulations to the New Federal State of China" and flew an unfamiliar-looking blue flag.
Was it a prank? A stunt? Weird propaganda?
The mystery was solved a few days later when Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon appeared live online. Together on a boat near the Statue of Liberty, with the same blue flag in the background, they awkwardly took turns speaking to the camera.
"We must eliminate Marxism-Leninism, the pariah and totalitarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party," Mr Guo declared. It was the latest collaboration between the two men, who built large networks of online followers based on their shared obsessions: opposition to China's rulers, fealty to the Trump wing of the Republican Party, and conspiracy theories about Covid and vaccines.
According to prosecutors, however, Mr Guo used his connections and online influence to defraud his supporters.
Thousands of Chinese dissidents - most living abroad - sent money, thinking they were buying shares in his businesses and cryptocurrency.
But instead of being invested, authorities say, the money was used by Mr Guo and a London-based business partner, Kin Ming Je, to fund extravagant purchases - including expensive properties, a yacht, sports cars, risky hedge fund investments, $1 million worth of rugs and a $140,000 piano.
The BBC spoke to several followers who say they gave thousands of dollars to Mr Guo's organisations.
"I watched his livestreams every day," said Coco, a Chinese immigrant who has been living in the US for a decade. We are not using her full name because she fears retribution from Mr Guo's followers.
Coco says she invested $6,000. One of her friends apparently gave more than $100,000 in order to become a "chair" - a member of Mr Guo's inner circle.
Prosecutors said victims were promised huge returns on their investments. Despite the vast sums of money pumped into Mr Guo's companies and foundations, he declared bankruptcy last year, claiming less than $100,000 to his name. ...
At the extreme end, some of his followers rallied outside the homes of Mr Guo's enemies. Most of those enemies were themselves dissidents, who had somehow crossed the tycoon, prompting him to accuse them of being Chinese spies.
Although he has denied encouraging violence, Mr Guo launched what he called a "punishing the traitors" campaign. Several of those targeted allegedly received death threats. At least one was beaten by Mr Guo's followers.
Teng Biao, a dissident who fled China and is a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, was one of the people targeted in the "traitors" campaign. He said that he began writing about Mr Guo in 2017, believing that the businessman was discrediting the work of Chinese dissidents. Mr Guo sued Mr Teng for defamation, but the case was dismissed. That did not stop the attacks.
For two months starting in late 2021, up to 30 activists rallied every day outside of his house in New Jersey, Mr Teng told the BBC.
"They were standing in front of my house and holding banners and signs calling me a [Chinese Communist Party] spy and they kept filming my house, livestreaming, and cursing me and my children and my family," Mr Teng said. "His followers sent me death threats." ...
But Mr Guo's network came crashing down last week when US authorities
charged him with orchestrating a billion-dollar fraud. According to the indictment, 5,500 investors sunk a total of $452m into GTV, which Mr Guo claimed was worth $2bn. In reality, it is alleged, it was a new business and had no revenue. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65019134
