Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui’s US$500 million lawsuit in London against UBS can proceed
- Guo sued the investment bank last year over a 2015 margin call following a decline in Haitong Securities shares
- Chinese tycoon previously sued UBS in New York over the margin call
A judge in London has ruled that a US$500 million lawsuit by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui against UBS over a 2015 margin call can proceed in Britain.
The Swiss investment bank had sought to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds, but High Court Justice Sara Cockerill ruled on Wednesday that the lawsuit can continue.
“UBS was a critical part of the deal structure,” Justice Cockerill wrote in the ruling. “The misstatements relied upon were made about UBS London’s policies. The claim resides in a disconnect between what he was told about the policies and intentions of the London branch were and what those policies actually were.”
Guo fled China in 2014, settling in the United States in 2017, after his battles with Beijing over his businesses and political activism. He faces prosecution in his native China on allegations of fraud and money laundering.
He claims his investment in Haitong was essentially wiped out after UBS forced him to sell the stock amid a market decline of Haitong’s shares in Hong Kong in 2015.
Guo claims he was advised by UBS to structure the deal through an intermediary to avoid breaching disclosure thresholds and the intermediary ultimately passed the loss onto him after the share sale in 2015.
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UBS previously said it “strongly disagrees” with Guo’s claim and will defend itself vigorously.
The bank declined to comment on Wednesday’s court ruling.
The real estate mogul previously sought to have the claim against UBS in New York, but his case was dismissed in 2019.
Guo has used social media and his media companies to lob accusations of corruption among Chinese establishment figures.
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Guo also has close ties to Steve Bannon, a one-time top adviser to former US President Donald Trump, and formed an anti-China alliance with Bannon.
Bannon was on Guo’s yacht in 2020 when the former Trump adviser was arrested on criminal charges that he had defrauded donors in an online funding campaign related to Trump’s plans to build a border wall with Mexico. Bannon has denied wrongdoing.
