by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 20 – After a circus-like civil case involving Guo Wengui in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which Inner City Press closely covered, here, March 15, 2023 saw the unsealing of a twelve-count Indictment charging
HO WAN KWOK, a/k/a “Miles Guo,” a/k/a “Miles Kwok,” a/k/a “Guo Wengui,” a/k/a “Brother Seven,” a/k/a “The Principal,” and KIN MING JE, a/k/a “William Je,” with various wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering charges. JE, who is KWOK’s financier, is also charged with obstruction of justice.
The prosecutors said that "KWOK was arrested this morning in New York, New York, and will be presented this afternoon. JE is currently at large."
Not mentioned was another, related arrest on March 15, of Guo's chief of staff Yangping Wang, aka Yvette Wang. Inner City Press, lone media in the Magistrates Court, live tweeted her presentment when the prosecutors, seemingly hoping to flip her as a cooperator, offered release on $5 million bond, but only with two co-signers they approve.
Minutes later, in a larger courtroom, Guo / Kwok was presented - with a Federal Defender for the day - and detained on consent. Inner City Press live tweeted, thread here
On March 31, Guo put in his written argument, pointing out the bail of Sam Bankman-Fried (with DOJ consent) and Bernie Madoff. Page two has Holmes of Theranos, Enron's Skilling, WorldCom's Ebbers, even the Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort of Stratton Oakmont - ironic in that Pras Michel on trial in DC is calling Wolf of Street Street star Leonardo DiCaprio as a witness. He also filed a memo about the MDC jail having illegal cell phones - and weapons, on Patreon here.
But on April 20, Judge Torres denied bail, writing among other things that "Defendant has much incentive to flee. He is facing a maximum sentence of more than 100 years’ imprisonment, Gov. Mem. at 21, and the evidence against him is strong. He may also face deportation proceedings. Defendant argues that he would not risk leaving the United States for fear of persecution by the CCP. Def. Mem. at 13–14. But, Defendant engaged in extensive international travel after leaving China in 2015, prior to filing his application for asylum in the United States. Def. Mem. at 7, 9, 14; Gov. Reply at 3–4. In other words, it is more likely than not that the pendency of Defendant’s asylum application prevented him from traveling internationally between 2017 and the present, rather than his fear of persecution. See TRAVEL DOCUMENTS, uscis.gov/green-card/greencard-processes-and-procedures/travel-documents (stating that individuals with a pending application for asylum must apply for and receive particular travel documents before leaving the United States, or else the application is deemed abandoned). And, the charges in this case seriously undermine Defendant’s eligibility for asylum." Full order on Patreon here.
The case is US v. Kwok, et al., 23-cr-118 (Torres)
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