A Chinese financier who bankrolled some of Steve Bannon's projects was found in contempt by a U.S. judge earlier this month and ordered to pay $134 million to a creditor over a yacht he moved out of US waters to shield it from debt collection. Now, Guo Wengui has reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
According to journalist Seth Hettena, Wengui stated that he has between $50,000-$100,000 in assets and owes between $100 million-$500 million in "litigation expenses, claims, and judgments."
"Guo's largest creditors are almost all people who are suing him," Hettena wrote in a series of tweets this Wednesday. "The Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund, loaned Guo $30 million in 2008. He never repaid the loan and now owes Pacific Alliance $254 million."
As The Daily Beast points out, Wengui fled the Chinese mainland in 2014, "fleeing charges ranging from corruption and money-laundering to rape (all of which he has denied). Since 2017, he has lived in luxury, setting up residence in a $68 million Central Park penthouse and underwriting numerous right-wing projects, from nonprofits with Bannon to dodgy media operations to bogus COVID-19 studies to would-be Twitter competitor GETTR. All the while, he has sought refugee status and attacked figures in both the Communist Chinese regime and in the dissident diaspora online."
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