The FBI is probing a Chinese billionaire’s funding of a slew of media production efforts, including the hiring of former White House adviser Steve Bannon as a consultant for a million dollars in 2018, The Wall Street Journal reports. The bureau has reportedly been looking into Guo Wengui, a former property tycoon who fled China in 2014, for more than six months. During his time in the U.S., he’s produced a series of videos, social media posts, and other broadcasts alleging corruption among the Chinese Communist Party elite. He’s also appeared on Bannon’s podcast to promote the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan biowarfare lab. Guo hired Bannon for “strategic consulting services” and paid him $1 million via a third party in Hong Kong, the Journal reports. A lawyer for Guo told the Journal that the FBI had not contacted his client. A spokeswoman for Bannon said the same. No charges have been filed.
