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By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
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SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 26 – Guo Wengui's Eastern Profit Corporation sued Strategic Vision US LLC, in a sealed complaint.  

 On October 5, 2020 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J. Liman held a proceeding. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here and below.

 On March 31 after Steve Bannon got a pardon from then-President Trump, Judge Liman held another conference, and Inner City Press again covered it.

  As the parties prepared to go to (bench) trial, Eastern Profit's lawyer asked to go into a sealed courtroom. Judge Liman asked for her proffer and she said that a certain witness - whom she left unnamed - may well invoke the Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate oneself, that there are criminal issues in the air.

Inner City Press has now published the complaint on Patreon here; the talk of the centrality of the witness and the looming but not current criminal issues point in one direction.

  Now after the trial, which Inner City Press covered often exclusively, Strategic has written in on April 26 to oppose striking, among others, " The August 31, 2017 videotaped interview of Guo on Mirror Media should be  admitted. DX-76A was admitted into evidence without objection by Eastern. (736:22). Under  Rule 901(b)(1), DX-76A is “the declaration for this Court, to establish that two different YouTube  links are true and correct recordings of interviews that Mingjing, or Mirror Media, took and kept  in the course of its business as a TV station.” (736:4-9) DX-76A identifies the YouTube link by  specific Internet address for the interview and is signed by the man who conducted the interview  with Guo, Sam Chen. The declaration sets out Chen’s profession (journalist), place of work and  employer (Mirror Media), that Chen is making the declaration as an employee of Mirror Media,  that Chen interviews persons of public interest, and that Chen is responsible for “reviewing the  recordings of those interviews once they are posted on YouTube for public viewing.” See Fed. R.  Evid. 803(6). The Court can take judicial notice under Fed. R. Evid. 201(b): pasting the address  for the August 31st interview into an Internet browser will access the videotape played at trial.  Moreover, Guo himself acknowledged giving the interview to Chen after seeing just the  beginning of the video, which had been shown to Guo at his deposition in 2019 (737:4-6): “it was  I who initiated it during the interview with Mirror Media." Full filing on Patreon here.

On April 19, the bench trial began and Inner City Press was there, alone in the courtroom gallery, while Strategic's Ms. French Wallop was cross examined about, among other things, trying to charge Eastern for Hermes gifts. The day ened with J. Michael Waller, who was named on sign board carried by dogged demonstrators on Worth Street, where they'd been when Bannon was arraigned. Inner City Press live tweeted, here
 and below.

On April 22, in the afternoon, Guo remained on the witness stand, repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment, until the end. Inner City Press live tweeted it here and below.

Now on April 23, Strategic Vision through counsel has moved to strike from the record several documents used by Eastern during its cross examination of Sasha Gong: "Strategic Vision moves to strike several exhibits proffered by Eastern Profit during  its cross-examination of Strategic witness Sasha Gong.  First, PX-59 purports to be a Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center  report, “Sockpuppets Spin COVID Yarns: An Analysis of PRC-Attributed June 2020 Twitter  Takedown.” The attached certification indicates that it was a special prepared by the Center,  but it establishes none of the elements of a business record under FRE 803(6). It is not a  report of regular business activity (i.e., the decision of yet another party, Twitter, to allegedly  conduct a special investigation and reach a decision, and Twitter’s purported reasons and  basis for doing so) for which it is being offered. It was not prepared by someone with actual  knowledge of the activity, or with information transmitted by someone who has knowledge.  It was not kept or made in the course of a regular business activity. Certainly, the witness  had no knowledge of the report. PX-59 is hearsay offered for the truth of the matter asserted.  It also is an opinion by a collection of authors (Carly Miller, Vanessa Molter, Isabella GarciaCamargo, Renée DiResta), none identified as an expert in this case, about the views of  Stanford, the CCP, and the cyber policy community. Strategic did not challenge the  authenticity of the article as a Center report, but it should not be admitted.  Second, Strategic moves to strike certain exhibits authored by Sasha Gong, including  PX-44 (Article in Wall Street Journal by Sasha Gong entitled How China Managed to Muffle  the Voice of America), PX-47 (Tibet.net Op-Ed by Sasha Gong entitled Spineless Federal  Bureaucrats Caved to Chinese Pressure to Censor Voice of America. Now They Deny It), and  PX-50 (Daily Caller Op-Ed by Sasha Gong entitled A Former RNC Finance Chair and His  Role in Malaysia’s Development Fund Scandal). These are hearsay offered for the truth of  the matter asserted when the author herself explained that her beliefs about Guo  fundamentally changed after the articles were written. As to the comments in the final  article, the evidence at trial established that the subject did not plead guilty to anything other  than that he did not register under FARA in connection with advocacy for a Malaysian  national." Complete letter on Patreon here.

From April 22: Q: Mr. Guo, do you live in the Sherry Netherland Hotel?

Guo: I invoke my privilege under the 5th Amendment.

 Q: Mr. Guo, is it true that video recording in your apartment, that you did not make, appeared on the Internet?

 Guo: It was at the very beginning, on some Twitter from the CCP, in China.

Q: You received a subpoena for all video or audio of your meetings with Chinese officials, but did not provide this one?

Guo: I don't know where that video is now. I have never seen it all the way through.

 Q: Is that the video where you say Chinese officials tried to kidnap you and take you back to China?

Guo: We met for many hours. That was just a little bit of what happened. They said they have a lot of resources and organizations in the US that can have me killed

Q: Isn't it true that during this meeting, your wife made dumplings for the Chinese officials?

Guo: Yes.

Q: Then you walked the group out of the building. Guo: I did.

Judge Liman: Please explain how he can invoke the 5th Amendment when Strategic's counsel ask about a transcript Mr. Guo has already adopted?

Mr. Klein: He said, my name is there. He did not say, I said that.

Judge Liman: He was represented by counsel, by you.

 Mr Klein: He was answering on another topic, we're invoking only as to certain topic areas. He can confirm it is on the page. I view it as tethering to certain topical areas. Judge Liman: Let me explore the limits of your invocation...

 Judge Liman: We'll leave it open, and if I determine there is no good faith invocation, we'll come back.

Q: Mr. Guo, you said, "I will not make any decisions before the 19th National Congress." That's what you said to Mr Ping, no? Guo: I was repeating what I said

 Q: You said, I am not against the Party, neither have I said I am for the Party, right? Guo: That is different than what I said. They wanted me to say I am for the CCP. I refused.

 Q: Mr. Guo, have you attacked Mr. Bob Fu online? Guo: I have never attacked anyone. There were a million online attacking me. Why would I retaliate against all of them. It is the strategy of the CCP, unrestricted warfare.

Q: Mr. Guo, have you encouraged your followed to harass Sasha Gong? Guo: Absolutely impossible. Q: Have you accused Sasha Gong of being a Communist spy? Guo: It was after she called me a spy. Then I retaliate. Q: Bob Fu is a pastor? Guo: No, a CCP member.

 Q: Mr Guo, isn't a large part of your work attacking dissidents in this country? Guo: This is purely a lie. 99% of my time is against the CCP, exposing them, their deeds in Xinjiang, Tibet, exposing the truth about the virus...

 Q: Mr. Guo, you said you wanted to go back to China after showing merit Guo: I don't recall that. Q: You wanted to get research and evidence to take out one faction of the CCP, correct? Guo: Absolutely impossible

 Judge Liman: We'll take our break... Then we'll have our last witness.

 [Sasha Gong, here]

Back on April 21, at the end of the day, Guo himself took the stand. Here is Inner City Press' thread of that:

Outside the SDNY  courthouse there are two dozen Guo supporters. A witness in this case wrote in and characterized them as thugs "surfing" Chinatown looking for people to beat up. Yet in the gallery as the trial began there was only Inner City Press

  Previous: Lawyer for Eastern Profit Corporation Limited says Mr. Guo is a "real dissident," and that it will be proved at this trial. Accuses Strategic Vision US LLC of falsely claiming Guo *supports* Xi.

Eastern Profit Corporation Limited wants a judgment of $1 million and that Strategic's claims be stricken.

  The case, in which Guo is also known as Miles Kwok and in which now SDNY criminal subject Stephen K. Bannon is also listed, is Eastern Profit Corporation Limited v. Strategic Vision US LLC, 18-cv-2185 (Liman)

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