China cultivated a powerful senior intelligence official with access to embarrassing information about top government officials, who fled China in 2015 after his patron, Deputy National Security Minister Ma Jian, was detained.
While in China, Mr. Guo met with many prominent Americans, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Secretary of State George P. Shultz. When Mr. Guo submitted his application for a $68 million penthouse to the Sherry Netherland Hotel community housing board on Fifth Avenue, he included a letter of recommendation from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Mr. Miles is honest, direct, and has impeccable taste,” Blair wrote.
Born into a poor family in rural China, Mr. Guo, whose current age is variously described as between 53 and 56, developed a sophisticated style with a penchant for tailored Brioni suits and luxury cars. When federal agents searched his property last year, they found two mattresses worth $36,000 each, a bed worth $31,000, a piano worth $140,000, as well as a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, a Lamborghini, Several cars were recovered, including a Rolls Royce.
Mr. Guo, who is in exile, launched a campaign in 2017 to discredit China’s anti-corruption chief ahead of a key Communist Party conference in the fall. In doing so, he built a large following both within China and the vast Chinese diaspora, although his claims of corruption among Communist Party officials could not be substantiated by the New York Times.
That same year, the Chinese government hired Republican National Committee Finance Chairman Steve Wynn and Vice Chairman Elliott Broidy, who run a casino resort in the Chinese territory of Macau, to persuade Trump to extradite Guo, but failed.
