Roger Stone, a long-time associate of President Donald Trump, settled a defamation lawsuit on Dec. 17 with a Chinese businessman, about whom Stone had made a variety of allegations on the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars. Stone retracted his statements against Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Kwok, and apologized for his allegations, stating they were “not true.” Stone will also have to publicize his retraction and apology, including via paid advertisements in three national newspapers.
Guo is a Chinese billionaire who fell afoul of the government, and lives in exile in the U.S. Stone had claimed on Infowars starting in September 2017 that Guo had been found guilty and convicted of crimes in China and the U.S., and that Guo had violated U.S. campaign-financing law by donating to Hillary Clinton and underwriting a run at the presidency by Trump’s former close adviser and former head of Breitbart, Steve Bannon.
In his statement, Stone said he relied on Sam Nunberg for his information, and stated that Bruno Wu was likely Nunberg’s source. Nunberg advised the Trump campaign, and is a protege of Stone. Wu is another Chinese billionaire, and Guo has accused him of being a government spy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Guo filed suit against Stone for $100 million in the Southern District of Florida in March 2018 over Stone’s statements on Infowars. In the settlement with Stone, Guo agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after Stone’s apology is published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. No payments were specified.
Stone also agreed to distribute his reaction and apology in the statement to Infowars, and to publish it on his social-media accounts and Web site.
Guo had a long history of calling out corruption in China, but came to America in 2015 after losing a key ally, who was himself accused of corruption. In 2017, the Chinese government had Interpol issue a warrant go Guo’s arrest and used Chinese media to allege that Guo had committed a variety of crimes.
