Arizona Woman Is at the Center of Alleged Fraud Ring Run by Steve Bannon and Chinese Billionaire
In June of last year, Steve Bannon and the Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui stood on a yacht in front of the Statue of Liberty. Propeller planes were circling above them. Bannon read out a declaration, announcing the creation of the so-called “New Federal State of China.” Guo, who has been living in exile in the U.S. since 2014, signed it with blood.
The bizarre stunt marked the launch of a new partnership between Bannon and Guo — one that quickly became the subject of a massive federal investigation. Their organization has the stated aim of overthrowing the Chinese government. In September, after months of rumors of a federal probe, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that three companies with ties to Guo and Bannon had agreed to pay $539 million in a settlement. They had solicited thousands of investments in an illegal stock offering and in a digital currency called “G-Coins,” which Guo had claimed, with few details, could be exchanged for gold.
At the center of the SEC's investigation — and Bannon and Guo's political movement — is an Arizona company run by a Tucson woman named Sara Wei Lafrenz. That company, Voice of Guo Media, Inc., was one of three entities that settled with the SEC over the illegal offerings. A YouTube channel and now-suspended Twitter profile indicate that Voice of Guo Media served as one of Guo and Bannon’s many propaganda machines: It churned out screeds against China’s communist regime, alongside anti-mask content and praise for Bannon’s political entanglements.
Lafrenz is also accused of running another embezzlement scheme in Arizona, in part to pay off debts related to the federal investigation.
Read more: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/scottsdale-steve-bannon-and-chinese-billionaire-guo-wengui-12170866
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