Dan Friedman Profile picture
Covering lobbying and corruption for Mother Jones. Kind of Albania famous.
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Feb 15 7 tweets 4 min read
The US Trustee in the Ch. 11 case of jailed Chinese mogul Miles Guo is filing motions aimed at recovering $ the trustee says Guo paid out via shell companies he ran as part of a fraudulent scheme. This is revealing entities, which aren't accused of crime, that got $ from Guo. Ie.
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This indicates a $250,000 payment by Guo to Steve Bannon, via a company Guo controlled some time before Feb. 2022, that was not previously known.
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Oct 7, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
Example of how Musk has successfully tweaked Twitter to promote right wing bullshit: ABC News reported on Trump idiotically sharing US nuclear submarine secrets with an Australian Mar-a-Lago member. . Then the NYTimes did too. .abcnews.go.com/US/after-white…
nytimes.com/2023/10/05/us/… A CBS News reporter who for years has reported very sympathetically on Trumpworld figures tweets that "sources" told her that there is no indication former President Trump shared sensitive records" with the Australian guy. 4,700 RTS.
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Oct 4, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
Giuliani, perhaps sober, is set to to make “a major announcement that will have far reaching implications for justice and the rule of law,” per his spokesman. Will be outside Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, NH, with two lawyers on hand. Rudy's big announcement is that he is suing Joe Biden for calling him a Russian pawn in 2020. Comes shortly after Hunter Biden sued Rudy. lawandcrime.com/high-profile/t…
Sep 7, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Navarro's real fast conviction is a new reminder that saying "executive privilege" is not, as Trump and co. assert, magic. motherjones.com/politics/2023/… Navarro is supposedly the "International Ambassador" for the New Federal State of China, a kooky org launched in 2020 by Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui. They pretend it's sort of a sovereign body. The job does not get Navarro diplomatic immunity though. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Jul 6, 2023 6 tweets 3 min read
Far right influencers including NY Young Republicans head Gavin Wax and Trump PAC spox Karoline Leavitt put their names on op-eds researched and at least partly written by supporters of exiled Chinese mogul/alleged fraudster Guo Wengui. motherjones.com/politics/2023/… This was first reported in May by @WalkerBragman: . I confirmed/advanced it a bit.importantcontext.news/p/chinese-diss…
Jun 4, 2023 12 tweets 5 min read
Guo Wengui remains in jail facing facing fraud charges. But an org he launched with Bannon, the New Federal State of China, today celebrates its 3rd anniversary at a mansion in Mahwah, NJ. Scheduled speakers include Reps Paul Gosar, Andy Ogles and of course, George Santos. ImageImage Santos has previously tried to link himself to Guo, claiming that his own fraud indictment is somehow the result of his call to "Free Miles Guo" days earlier, part of the same vast CCP conspiracy Guo and Bannon say caused other fraud charges against them. motherjones.com/politics/2023/…
Apr 4, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
Elliot Broidy is testifying today in the Pras Michel trial about their efforts to lobby Trump on behalf of Malaysia and arguably, China. Background here. motherjones.com/politics/2020/… Pras may have dozed during Broidy’s testimony about trying to arrange for the Malysian PM to golf with Trump. The “Ghetto Superstar” artist’s eyes were closed for a few mins.
Apr 4, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
Every MAGA clown with legal problem is gonna try to glom on to Trump’s persecution BS. Guo Wengui had a bail hearing today in his federal case, but no question his followers are eager to attach his cause to Trump's political persecution claims.
Apr 3, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
Leonardo DiCaprio is currently testifying on the Pras Michel foreign lobbying trial in DC. Leo is talking about his relationship with Jho Low, the Malaysian financier and now alleged money launder who finaced Wolf of Wall Street and later allegedly enlisted Praz and others in illegal campaign finance and lobbying efforts.
Apr 1, 2023 5 tweets 4 min read
Lawyers for alleged fraudster Guo Wengui, stuck in jail because he's a flight risk, are trying to get him bail - their job. But here they repeat the dubious bio Guo pushes. He claims to have arrested in 1989 for supporting the Tiananmen Square protests. documentcloud.org/documents/2373… ImageImage But Guo's effort to link himself to Tiananmen is likely a lie. As @Sasha_Gong, who researched Guo, has found, and as @eosnos wrote, Guo went to jail BEFORE the CCP cracked down on protestors. And a document from the time lists Guo's crime as petty fraud. newyorker.com/magazine/2022/… Image
Mar 31, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
In the most exciting court case in Manhattan, federal prosecutors say they have found new evidence Guo Wengui's chief of staff and codefendant Yvette Wang, lied to them about her recent work for Guo's fraudulent companies and assets. They argue this means Wang shouldn't get bail. ImageImage Prosecutors say Wang is a flight risk if granted bail, in part because she's apparently been working on getting citizenship in the tiny Pacific state of Vanuatu, where Guo also had a passport. Vanuatu has supposedly made buying passports, which allow easy access to the EU, easy. Image
Mar 18, 2023 10 tweets 5 min read
People at this modest pro-Guo Wengui protest today
were probably paid. Guo's org tends to pay even his own New Federal State of China fans per diems to show up at protests he orders. The "Rule of Law" nonprofits, launched by Guo and Bannon in 2018, often make the payments. In 2020, Guo called for protests around the world aimed at Chinese dissidents he was mad at. He called it the "Kill Cheaters" campaign. I got some bank statements and audio showing the Rule of Law orgs funded some of the harassment. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…
Mar 16, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Steve Bannon posted like 30 times on Gettr today and cut a War Room but seems to have said nothing at all about the arrest of his buddy, benefactor and former yacht bunkmate Guo Wengui-a guy Bannon often calls "the George Washington of the new China," and lauds as a sort of seer. Bannon has previously backed Guo's crazy claims that the CCP is behind the SEC and federal investigations into Guo. But today, with Guo in jail, Bannon is silent. Suggests Bannon is eager to try to distance himself from Guo's fraud scheme.
Mar 15, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
Fire at the Sherry Netherland, where Guo Wengui, arrested today, lives. abc7ny.com/sherry-netherl…. Guo has been in legal dispute with the Sherry for years over unpaid condo fees. They claimed he defrauded them. “The FBI's New York Field office is working to determine whether the fire at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel is linked to the Wednesday morning arrest of exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui.”
Mar 15, 2023 9 tweets 4 min read
Exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui claims in this post that FBI agents raided his home today at 5am and brought him in for questioning. Sources have said Guo is being investigating by the US Attorney in SDNY and the SEC for possible fraud and money laundering. Image Steve Bannon, who Guo has paid as an adviser, was involved in Guo business ventures I have heard are part of the federal investigation.
Mar 2, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
Here's Steve Bannon's boss Guo Wengui detailing his new plan to make Gettr (which he claims in bankruptcy court to have no stake in) "into a global platform where the unvaccinated people can use digital currencies to trade their sperm and eggs." Image Guo, who Bannon regularly calls "the George Washington of the new China," has pushed nutty conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines (he's claimed China uses Covid vaccines to target Jews, because "the world internet is overwhelmingly in Jewish hands.") motherjones.com/politics/2022/… Image
Jan 9, 2023 18 tweets 6 min read
For the last few days, followers of exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui have been tweeting at me, urging each other to try to get me suspended for writing articles exposing activities of Gou and Steve Bannon, who works with and for Guo. A couple points on this. I doubt these people can get me suspended for journalism, even from Elon Musk's Twitter. But if they did, they'd be doing me and the stories they're trying to suppress a favor. Less twitter for me, more attention for the articles. Do your best, ants.
Dec 10, 2022 16 tweets 7 min read
Taibbi and Musk missed something big about those Hunter Biden porn tweets Twitter took down in 2020. motherjones.com/politics/2022/… Twitter suppressed the NYPost's Hunter Biden story in Oct 2020, an error. But they also suppressed nonconsensual tweets showing Hunter Biden's penis. And Taibbi and Musk also attacked those deletions. Musk said deleting them violated the First Amendment. thebulwark.com/no-you-do-not-…
Nov 21, 2022 19 tweets 4 min read
Watching closing arguments in Oath Keepers case, defense lawyers keep trying versions of this first point. They hope to sever OKers' rhetoric from actions. The problem most of these guys have, including "Kenny," is they stormed the Capitol. Hard to divorce that from words. Harrelson lawyer Brad Geyer, after saying "if the video doesn't fit you must acquit," during his closing argument is playing video that I suspect no one but him wants to see.
Nov 20, 2022 5 tweets 3 min read
Early this year, Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese mogul who's has become Trump booster and Bannon patron, and touted his wealth, filed for bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay ~$250 million in a lawsuit. Guo claimed to have to less than $3.5K in assets. motherjones.com/politics/2022/… The trustee appointed to represent debtors in the case is pursuing assets Guo seems to be trying to hide through offshore companies nominally owned by relatives. On Thurs, the trustee filed a motion naming a bunch of Guo-linked firms he wants info from. documentcloud.org/documents/2331…
Nov 17, 2022 9 tweets 2 min read
Today in the Oath Keepers' sedition trial, prosecutors will cross-examine Jessica Watkins, who gambled Weds by admitting to some of the charges against her, in the evident hope her contrition and personal story will help her get acquitted on big charges. motherjones.com/politics/2022/… Image Watkins said Weds that when she stormed Congress, she thought the Senate had already certified Biden's votes, ie she wasn't trying to stop it. But in a tape prosecutors are playing we hear Watkins on Zillow acknowledging another Oath Keeper who says the proceedings were ongoing.