Wengui, an associate of American conservative media strategist Steve Bannon, was arrested in March 2023 at his apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in Manhattan, where a fire subsequently broke out later that day as FBI agents were still searching it.
The superseding indictment unsealed Thursday morning adds an additional count of racketeering conspiracy under Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, which carries a 20 year maximum sentence and forfeiture of any ill-gotten gains from the criminal activity.
Indicted Chinese exile controls Gettr social media site, ex-employees say
Guo's networks have also promoted Trump, QAnon conspiracy theories and false claims about coronavirus vaccines and treatments, The Post has reported.
He had this line, 'Gettr is backed by an international consortium of investors.' It was very clear it was not true. I don't think there was any other investor. I would have known,' this person said.
Now claiming nearly 7.5 million users, Gettr was among the conservative alternatives to Twitter, along with Trump's own Truth Social, that sprang up after the major platforms banned Trump's accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Gettr had 3.1 million page visits in January, down from 5.4 million in November, according to SimilarWeb. The same period saw Truth Social fall to 5.7 million from 8.3 million.
