Thread by @MischaEDM

More indictment for Bannon!

#GTV linked to #SteveBannon and exiled Chinese businessman #GuoWenGui raised more than $300 million in a private offering this spring that is now being investigated by federal and state authorities！

wsj.com/articles/fundr…

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. have frozen accounts tied to fundraising for the company, GTV Media Group

Bank of America Corp. also closed an account for GTV Media’s parent company #SARACA shortly after it was opened in recent months.

The federal probe is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The investigators have been examining whether GTV Media or associates of Mr. Guo violated securities laws through the private share placement.

NY state AG’s office has also been examining the matter.

Soon after the fundraising, some investors began pushing for refunds after they said they never received official documentation verifying their investments in GTV Media, among other issues that led them to distrust Guo.

The document identifies #SteveBannon as a company director, while Guo served as the public face for its fundraising.

Associates of Mr. Guo are listed as GTV Media executives, while Mr. Guo is described as a company adviser.

The FBI had been examining Guo’s work with Bannon even before the private placement this spring. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that FBI agents had been investigating Mr. Guo and the money he used to fund his media efforts in the U.S. for more than six months.

The prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn had been involved in the probe.

Earlier this month, Mr. Guo said in an online video that he had been subpoenaed and that he welcomed authorities’ probes.

Potential investors were told it would be a platform for news, social media and e-commerce, with competitors including Amazon，WeChat and TikTok. A fundraising memo didn’t include a detailed business plan for GTV Media. It stated a pre-investment valuation of $1.8 billion.

The company identified Mr. Bannon as one of several prominent directors. Others included hedge-fund manager and China critic Kyle Bass, Texas venture capitalist Darren Blanton and John A. Morgan, the son of Morgan Stanley’s co-founder.

The fundraising documents say GTV Media aimed to sell a 10% stake in the company for as much as $200 million, with the rest held by another company affiliated with Guo.

Guo said in an online video in June that GTV Media had raised more than $300 million.

GTV Media didn’t register the deal with the SEC. To avoid registration, companies generally must sell shares only to wealthy “accredited investors” such as having more than $1 million in assets, excluding the value of a primary residence, or earning more than $200,000 a year.

t couldn’t be determined how much money is in the accounts linked to GTV Media. A Chase account for GTV Media collected funds from investors willing to give at least $100,000 to GTV Media.

Separately, smaller investors were told they could invest in the #GTV Media offering through another entity called Voice of Guo Media Inc. Several of these investors said they were told that the money sent to Voice of Guo Media #VOG would be invested in GTV Media on their behalf.

Guo said in June that Voice of Guo Media #VOG had raised nearly $120 million.

#GTV Media said in its statement that it didn’t issue shares to anyone through Voice of Guo Media.

GTV不承认它让VOG代售股份！

SEC investigators have been reaching out to conduct interviews with investors who are now pushing GTV Media or Voice of Guo Media to refund their money and are lodging complaints about Mr. Guo and his associates.

In 2018, acompany affiliated with Mr. Guo hired Virginia-based research firm Strategic Vision to investigate individuals Mr. Guo said were tied to top Chinese Communist Party officials, according to court filings.

Strategic Vision had issues with the request and accused Mr. Guo of being a “dissident-hunter” for China. The contract between the companies is now in litigation.

A New York state court on June 28 dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mr. Guo against Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Journal, over its reporting about the litigation between Strategic Vision and the Guo-linked entity.

The recent fundraising has also drawn scrutiny abroad. In Taiwan, local news media reported that police had prevented one supporter of Mr. Guo from transferring $43,000 to Voice of Guo because they suspected financial fraud.

In New Zealand, dozens of protesters criticized a decision by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., or ANZ, to block transfers worth $2 million to GTV Media, according to another local news-media report.

Mr. Guo has complained online about banks blocking transfers, alleging they are under the influence of China’s Communist Party.

More selfies!