Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui filed for bankruptcy protection after a New York judge ordered him to pay USD 134 million in fines for moving a yacht out of the reach of an unpaid lender.
Jeremy Hill, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) said that Judge Barry Ostrager of New York state court found that Guo "exercised dominion and control" over the yacht Lady May and had arranged for it to leave New York waters despite an earlier court order requiring it to remain in the jurisdiction. The yacht made its way to the Bahamas.
Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, who is a friend of Guo, was also arrested while aboard the yacht in August 2020, charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors over a scheme to build a wall along the Mexican border.
The court said Guo has racked up fines of USD 500,000 a day over 268 days in violation of a prior order. Ostrager told Guo to pay USD 134 million in five business days, said Hill.
Guo filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut late on Tuesday (local time).
In 2018, Bannon and Guo Wengui joined forces in an ambitious challenge to Beijing's leadership.
The pair inaugurated the 'New Federal State of China' movement in June 2020 by flying a fleet of propeller planes with flags draped between them over the Statue of Liberty in New York before Guo shed blood on a declaration that vowed to overthrow the Communist Party, reported SMH.
The same year, the Wall Street Journal reported the FBI investigated the source of funds for the movement and a USD 1 million contract between Bannon and Guo.
Guo, a prominent critic of China's Communist Party, built a real-estate empire in Beijing but fled the country in 2014 to seek asylum in the US after Chinese authorities accused him of bribery and money laundering, which he has denied.
Guo has been accused by the Chinese government of money laundering, fraud, kidnapping and rape - charges he claims have been trumped up in retaliation for a series of videos that made unverified corruption allegations against Chinese Communist Party officials, said Hill.
( With inputs from ANI )
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