Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon in 2018.Don Emmert/Getty
Miles Guo, an exiled Chinese billionaire best known for his ties to Steve Bannon, is in a Brooklyn jail awaiting sentencing following his conviction for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme. But Guo’s years of using his wealth to forge ties with people close to President Donald Trump appear to be bearing fruit.
As my colleague Stephanie Mencimer reported yesterday, far-right activist Gavin Wax just announced he is taking a job as chief of staff to Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington. Wax would be one of several Trump advisers and administration aides who have previously worked for or been paid by Guo or his allies.
Others include top Trump aide Peter Navarro, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and senior Justice Department official Emil Bove. Bannon—whom Guo paid millions between 2017 and 2020 as an adviser—and former campaign aide Jason Miller, who ran Gettr, a social media company that Guo appears to have controlled, hold no official White House roles, but remain Trump advisers.
Guo was accused during his trial of using various forms of intimidation, including encouraging violence, to stop critics within his movement from speaking out. From jail, where he has remained since his March 2023 arrest, Guo has claimed he is poised to be released, through a Trump pardon or other means. There’s no evidence that will happen. But Guo’s thousands of victims, including some who testified against him at trial, have cause to worry he might seek retribution if freed. (Prosecutors recently cited victims’ fears in arguing for expediting Guo’s sentencing, which has been delayed until September, after Guo replaced his lawyers.)
Though he has styled himself as a leading opponent of the Chinese Communist Party, Guo has also been accused in multiple lawsuits of acting as Chinese intelligence agent—a claim he denies. Still, the allegation adds a troubling dimension to his ties to top Trump advisers.
Wax, the former head of the hard right New York Young Republican Club, previously worked as marketing director for Gettr, a platform that, according to former employees and federal prosecutors, Guo secretly controlled prior to his arrest. Other Gettr alumni include Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon deputy press secretary who recently drew scrutiny for her history of bigoted and xenophobic posts, including some widely condemned as antisemitic.
Wax was also part of a stable of right-wing influencers who in 2023 churned out pro-Guo op-eds and other content that in many cases were partly written for them by his supporters.
That group also included Karoline Leavitt, who, as I’ve reported, was paid by Guo supporters to publish op-eds they’d help prepare under her name. (Wax, who has not said if he was compensated for his Guo articles, didn’t respond to an inquiry Sunday.)
Peter Navarro, the Trump adviser closely linked to the administration’s economically damaging tariff policy, also previously worked for Guo, as “international ambassador” for the so-called New Federal State of China. Founded in 2020 by Guo and Bannon, that outfit claimed to be a government-in-waiting prepared to take over China. During Guo’s trial last year, prosecutors said the group was part of a con in which Guo used his supposed anti-CCP activism to win support from the Chinese diaspora, thousands of whom Guo defrauded through bogus investment schemes. Navarro’s role—showing up at events held by Guo and doing interviews with a Chinese-language news outfit Guo launched—helped give the organization the air of legitimacy and a perceived link to Trump. Navarro has not said if he was paid for the job.
Guo also has a former ally in a senior Justice Department role. Emil Bove, now acting Deputy Attorney General, in 2023 worked as a lawyer for Yvette Wang—Guo’s longtime aide and co-defendant. More recently, Bove led the controversial effort to drop federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a move both men insist was not part of a quid pro quo.
An attorney familiar with the Guo case told Mother Jones that it was likely that Guo, through companies he controlled, had paid for Bove to represent Wang. Bove, who was forced off that case after government lawyers said he had a conflict due to his past work as a federal prosecutor, has not commented.
Guo’s ties also extend to pro-Trump media. The far right influencers who previously penned fawning op-eds about the mogul include Natalie Winters, who is now covering the White House for Bannon’s War Room broadcast. Since 2017, War Room itself has received monthly payments totaling hundreds of thousands from a Guo-controlled company, according to court filings. That’s in addition to Guo’s direct payments to Bannon.
John Fredericks, a conservative pundit now covering the White House, received at least $175,000 to host Guo supporters on his broadcasts, according to bank records made public as the result of a legal dispute. Fredericks in February used a White House briefing to urge Leavitt to “do away with the entire White House Correspondents Association,” drawing a pledge from Leavitt to limit the access of “legacy media outlets.”
It is unlikely that many viewers realized that both Fredericks and Leavitt have been so linked to Guo. But the imprisoned fraudster, if he was watching, may have appreciated how the scene played out.
