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Pastry chef Jiamei Lu said she told the Federal Bureau of Investigation this summer that she was the victim of a financial fraud being run by a company linked to exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui and former White House political adviser Steve Bannon. Ms. Lu said that after she met with FBI agents in New York, Mr. Guo lambasted her in an online video. Clutching a baseball bat, Mr. Guo called Ms. Lu a Chinese spy, describing her in vulgar terms. “You wait and see,” he said. Ms. Lu says she was among the many people who sent money to invest in GTV, which according to Mr. Guo raised hundreds of millions of dollars this spring. Some of those people including Ms. Lu said they later became convinced they’d been defrauded and reported their concerns to authorities.
The company has come under investigation by the FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission and New York attorney general’s office, according to people familiar with the matter, while bank accounts linked to GTV’s fundraising have been frozen. In recent weeks, FBI agents have been asking witnesses questions specifically about Mr. Guo’s online statements, and the investigation is moving quickly, according to people familiar with the matter. In a statement through his lawyer, Mr. Guo said, “I have never condoned any type of violence towards any individuals.” He said the baseball bat was a prop he had used in multiple videos. “Ms. Lu is nothing more than an unhinged, [Chinese Communist Party] proxy,” he said, a claim she strongly denies. GTV didn’t provide comment for this article. The company has previously said it was prepared to cooperate with any U.S. probes into the fundraising and that “all of the raised funds are intact.” What began as an online fight between Mr. Guo and some of his investors and detractors is becoming more volatile, with supporters of Mr. Guo taking to the streets to confront his critics in person, part of what Mr. Guo has called a grass-roots campaign to unearth Chinese agents. In southern California, Chinese democracy activist Wu Jianmin says in recent days that around 10 supporters of Mr. Guo showed up outside his house, where he said they yelled coarse insults about him and distributed leaflets about him to his neighbors. One of the participants posted a video on social media outside of Mr. Wu’s house saying he was prepared to kill him. Mr. Wu said the intimidation prompted him to stay inside with his family and report the matter to local police. Asked about Mr. Wu’s account, Mr. Guo said he doesn’t condone any threats or acts of violence.
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