Steve Bannon’s Former Business Partner Guo Wengui Was Arrested and Then His $32.5 Million Apartment Caught on Fire
Guo Wengui’s $32.5 million Manhattan apartment caught on fire Wednesday, mere hours after the Steve Bannon ally was arrested there on a federal indictment accusing him of masterminding an over $1 billion fraud conspiracy.
Wengui, also known as “Miles Guo” and “Ho Wan Kwok,” is “an exiled Chinese businessman who has resided in the United States since in or about 2015 and garnered a substantial online following,” according to the Department of Justice press release announcing his arrest.
He’s had close ties to Bannon for years, including providing the former Trump adviser with a lucrative consulting gig ($1 million per year since 2018) as part of what the Washington Post described as a “sprawling disinformation network” through media entities that “spread election and covid falsehoods.”
When Bannon was arrested in 2020 for federal charges related to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scheme, the feds picked him up on Wengui’s yacht (Trump later pardoned Bannon for the federal charges but the Manhattan District Attorney then indicted him for state charges related to the same alleged scheme).
As reported by Law&Crime’s Adam Klasfeld, the eleven federal charges against Wengui include wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy and “could carry close to a 200-year maximum prison sentence.” He’s accused of using false statements to solicit investors in various entities he controlled, many from his large online following, and then using those funds to enrich himself. From the DOJ release:
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Ho Wan Kwok, known to many as “Miles Guo,” led a complex conspiracy to defraud thousands of his online followers out of over $1 billion dollars. Kwok is charged with lining his pockets with the money he stole, including buying himself, and his close relatives, a 50,000 square foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari, and even two $36,000 mattresses, and financing a $37 million luxury yacht.
Wengui was arrested at 6 a.m. ET at his Upper East Side apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel building, where he owns the entire 18th floor, a 15-room penthouse last listed on the market for $32.5 million.
Just after noon, according to ABC7NY, a fire was reported on that floor:
FBI agents were still inside Guo’s apartment at the time the fire broke out, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News. That’s about six hours after Guo was arrested.
The agents were forced to evacuate and reported the fire to police.
Both the FBI and FDNY declined to reply to multiple media outlets’ requests for comment, but are reportedly still investigating the cause of the fire. The fire was brought under control after nearly two hours, around 1:46 pm ET, and caused “significant damage” to the apartment, reported ABC7NY. No injuries have been reported.
According to CNN’s Kara Scannell, prosecutors are expected that Wengui be held without bail “because he’s not only an extreme flight risk but also an economic danger to society.”
Watch the video clips above, via ABC7NY and CNN.
