Guo Wengui

Criminal charges in China

In April 2017, an Interpol notice was issued for Guo's arrest, requested by the Chinese government. In June 2017, staff of one of Guo's other investment vehicles, Pangu Investment, were charged for scamming banks on loans. The staff members accused all alleged that they were under the orders of Guo.

By June 2017, the Chinese government sent U.S. President Donald Trump a letter, delivered by casino businessman Steve Wynn, requesting for Guo to be deported to China. Unnamed sources "familiar with [a] meeting" allege that Trump was inclined to deport Guo, a member of his Mar-a-Lago resort, but that his advisors opposed deporting him by reasoning that he could be used for political leverage against China.

Civil lawsuits

Several companies sued Guo's Pangu Investment and Zenith Holdings in the civil court of the United States, in order to reclaim the non-performing loan the companies allegedly lent to Guo.

In April 2017, Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund brought suit against Guo in the Commercial Division of New York County, where Guo resided and was seeking asylum from the United States government. In 2008, Pacific Alliance loaned $30 million to Guo's Hong Kong company in connection with the development of Pangu Plaza, site of a "7 Star Hotel" in Beijing near the Olympic arenas. In connection with the loan, Guo signed a personal guarantee. All of the documents and transactions were executed in Hong Kong or China. According to Pacific Alliance, Guo owes approximately $88 million in principal and accrued interest on the loan. In 2020, an apartment worth $55 million that an investment fund bought for Guo's use was seized in a bankruptcy proceeding in connection with the lawsuit.

In July 2017, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing sued Guo for defamation after he alleged that she had slept with CCP leader Wang Qishan.

On July 5, 2017, a police agency in central China opened a rape investigation against Guo, after a 28-year-old woman accused Guo of verbal, physical and sexual abuse, saying he had repeatedly raped her during trips to London, New York, and the Bahamas between 2015 and 2017, while she worked as his personal assistant. She alleged that Guo had kept her in "virtual detention" by taking away her passport, restricting and monitoring her internet usage as well as access to electronic devices, repeatedly threatening her, and confining her to an apartment in London's Belgravia district, also stating that Guo coerced other female employees into having sex with him. The woman provided testimony to a lawyer, presenting underwear, pregnancy tests, and abortion pills as proof, before asking for further assistance at the Embassy of China, London. The Associated Press reported on the development in August 2017, also confirming that the Chinese government sought a second Interpol notice for the case. Guo and his legal team initially declined to comment until the woman filed a civil lawsuit at the New York Supreme Court in September of the same year, seeking US$140,000,000 in compensation. Guo subsequently called the allegations "fake" and described them as part of a smear campaign against him by the Chinese Communist Party. As of 2020, China still sought custody of Guo for rape charges. The plaintiff in the rape case repeated her allegations in a deposition on June 3, 2021, with the case still pending as of 2024. Also in 2024, public affairs consultant Sam Nunberg stated that Guo's close associate Steve Bannon threatened him with legal action after he refused to defend Guo by claiming to have evidence that the rape allegation was fabricated by Bruno Wu, Steve Wynn and Elliott Broidy, a narrative which Nunberg described as "totally false" and instead based on animosity towards Wu as a business rival and Wynn and Broidy for supporting Guo's extradition to China in 2017. Guo had filed a defamation suit against Nunberg shortly after his refusal, which was dismissed in 2018.

In August 2017, the Chinese conglomerate HNA Group filed a defamation lawsuit in New York against Guo, said Guo made "repeatedly false and defamatory statements", including a claim that Yao Qing, a nephew of Wang Qishan, former Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and close supporter of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping, is one of HNA's shareholders. HNA said the comments caused the company to lose business and suffer a drop in share prices, but Guo said he welcomes a legal spat with the giant Chinese conglomerate in the United States. In March 2019, however, HNA claimed that Guo's statements had no longer caught public attention and planned to drop this suit. Almost at the same time, Guo posted tweets on his own social media "Guo Media" declaring that he refused to withdraw from the HNA case and would continue.

On November 20, 2018, Guo held a conference with his close friend Steve Bannon in New York about the death of Wang Jian in France, who was the former chairman of HNA Group. During the conference, he announced the establishment of "Rule of Law foundation" for investigations about Chinese government financial activities as well as those of its supporters and offering financial support for businessmen, officials and others who are persecuted by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and forced to flee overseas like Guo himself. This foundation consists of two parts which are different types of nonprofit organization. One part called "Rule of Law Foundation" is type 501(c)(3) while the other part called "Rule of Law Society" is type 501(c)(4). Kyle Bass serves as the chairman of part 501(c)(3) and Steve Bannon serves as the chairman of part 501(c)(4).

In December 2018, Roger Stone agreed to a settlement with Guo in which Stone would retract a false claim, published c. 2015-2016, that Guo had donated to Hillary Clinton.

On July 23, 2019, Strategic Vision US LLC, a US commercial research firm which has a commercial dispute with Guo, sued Guo in the US federal court, said Guo was a spy for the CCP. However, this lawsuit was dismissed, and after that Guo filed a US$50 million defamation lawsuit in New York state against several companies and individuals including Strategic Vision US and CNN host Erin Burnett, who called him a spy during the Outfront television program.

In August 2019, it was revealed that the Hong Kong Police Force froze bank accounts of Guo and other family members in 2017, in court documents requesting funds be released filed by Anton Development Limited, a company held by Guo's daughter Guo Mei. The freezing is part of a judicial review against the freezing of various assets linked to Guo and in relation to a HK$32.9 billion (S$5.8 billion) money laundering investigation, where court filings focus on Guo and other family members using their personal bank accounts and the bank accounts of Anton Development Limited and Hong Kong International Funds Investments Limited; the frozen accounts are said to total at least HK$1.56 billion. A writ provided by Anton Development Limited to police reportedly stated that HK$730 million in the frozen accounts were investment funds from a sovereign fund in Abu Dhabi.