PATRIOT GAMES

Guo Wengui has been linked to Chinese intelligence, the F.B.I., and Donald Trump. What is he after?

- EVAN OSNOS

The Sherry-Netherland, a slender neo-Renaissance tower at 781 Fifth Avenue, is known as one of New York's white glove” co-ops, for the linen gloves that the elevator attendants wear. It has panoramic views of Central Park, décor inherited from a Vanderbilt mansion, and amenities befitting a luxury hotel; room service comes from the Harry Cipriani restaurant downstairs. Through the years, the Sherry has accommodated the occasional celebrity—Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppola, David Bowie—but, like other buildings of its kind, it tends to prefer quieter money.

On a winter day in 2015, the Sherry’s co-op board received an unusual application. A Chinese businessman calling himself Miles Guo wanted the most expensive unit in the building—a penthouse that occupies the entire eighteenth floor, with six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and three terraces. There was no need to secure a mortgage; he could send sixty-eight million dollars in cash. Although Guo didn't know anyone at the Sherry who could vouch for him, his lawyers, at prominent firms in Washington and New York, delivered confidential documents that identified him as a married father of two, who owned a Beijing real-estate enterprise with assets of nearly four billion dollars. He was No. 74 on a list of China’s richest people, but he avoided public attention, and even basic photographs were scarce. A reference letter from U.B.S., the Swiss bank, characterized him as a modest gentleman with a warm heart.” A personal recommendation from Tony Blair, Britain’s former Prime Minister, said, Miles is honest, forthright and has impeccable taste.”