Can a Fugitive Chinese Billionaire Achieve His American Dream?
Guo Wengui's combative personality has made him a social media sensation among the Chinese diaspora. But does he really have a good head for business?
Guo in Manhattan
Photographer: Timothy A. Clary/AFP
Who doesn’t enjoy watching the very rich feuding with each other? The U.S. Justice Department recently told casino mogul Steve Wynn — who until 2018 headed a lucrative operation in the world’s largest gambling enclave in Macau — to register as a lobbyist for China or prepare to go to court for his efforts to convince President Donald Trump’s administration to send Guo Wengui, a billionaire on top of Beijing’s most wanted list, back to China. Guo, who’s become something of a social media celebrity and troll in the U.S., cheered and released a statement saying “[the DOJ] should criminally indict [Wynn] for serving as a greedy spy of the Chinese Communist Party.”
When Guo’s involved, expect a messy fight. The Chinese exile is as quick to befriend politicians as he is to accuse others of espionage. In the U.S. since the beginning of 2017, he’s become close to Stephen Bannon, the former chief White House strategist and China hawk, who was on the board of directors of GTV Media Group. Guo is the public face of GTV, a video platform with a self-proclaimed valuation of $1.8 billion that taps onto users’ distrust of China. When federal agents arrested Bannon last year for fleecing donors, he was lounging on Guo’s 150-foot super-yacht. (Bannon was pardoned by Trump before the president left office and last week a federal judge formally dismissed the charges.)