John Wuo accused of ethics violations over USFIA ties
July 21st saw another Arcadia City Council meeting take place and with it, another barrage of criticism relating to the city’s real-estate issues.
Added to the mix was an update on the John Wuo USFIA situation, with comments from residents and finally response from Wuo himself.
Whereas David Arvizu was the only person to bring up the USFIA/GemCoin issue at the last City Council meeting, this time he was joined by resident Tim Burch.
After calling on Arcadia City Council members to hold themselves to a higher standard and bringing up specific local real-estate issues, Burch got stuck into Wuo about GemCoin.
[01:09:06] Mr. former Mayor, Councilman Wuo, I’m going to come back to you.
Last week this council was lambasted for its inaction and the perception by the former Mayor, over a sequence of bad votes.
Mr. former Mayor, Councilman, you were linked to a possible Ponzi scheme as has been reported in the press.
Yet you sat silent after hearing this from the public and didn’t even comment.
In the press you said you felt used.
Are you not an Honorary Chairman of the USFIA, the parent of GemCoin… and also part of the UCCA?
That’s a question.
Is not your real-estate business partner, Mr. Yang, also a Chairman of USFIA and thus a principal in GemCoin?
Isn’t USFIA’s sole-purpose to develop and sell amber, which is the backing reported for this?
Mr. Mayor, I think the public has a right to know. It’s not your choice, it’s your duty.
Hold yourself to a higher standard, answer these questions:
What is your relation to Mr. Yang and Mr. Chen?
What are your financial interests with these men?
How have you been compensated?
As a public official what is your financial disclosure, even if zero?
Hold yourself to a higher standard and answer these questions publicly. Thankyou.
Bursh was followed by David Arvizu, who proceeded to present to the meeting footage of Wuo’s various endorsements of USFIA and GemCoin, which he claims to know nothing about.
[01:13:02] Basically the Mayor, after denying he knew anything about GemCoin, is seen here at this conference endorsing it.
[01:14:27] Here’s where I have a problem.
City Council people, Mayors, should not be endorsing companies.
Especially ones that have been identified um, or suspected of being pyramid schemes.
Where they ask people to invest money and they really don’t ever see anything on the return, except for the initial investors.
Personally I think this is a violation of ethics. This is an ethics violation mixing politics with a pyramid scheme.
Arvizu closed his speaking time by asking Wuo to clarify how he introduced himself at USFIA events:
[01:15:49] When you go to these conferences and you ask people to invest money in these uh, investment schemes, do you refer to yourself as “Mayor Wuo” or “Major Wuo”… as in like a military rank, which would indicate some sort of military service of some sort.
Which would be inappropriate and disrespectful to the men and women of the armed forces who actually did serve.
So which is it, is it Major or Mayor?
I would ask that the City Council put this on their agenda and discuss this in public.
And the behavior of a City Councilman who involves his public office with investment schemes. And I would ask that they also admonish his inappropriate behavior.
Less than ten minutes later, Wuo had the mic and addressed David Arvizu directly.
[1:23:16] Last council meeting Mr. Arvizu accused me of three strikes… and uh I would like to respond to that.
The first one you said I had a real-estate broker license, and over the twelve years I’ve been serving on the city council, I have not involved myself in any, y’know, conflict of interest involvement with any of the development.
Wuo then passed the issue over the City Attorney, who clarified:
[1:24:06] The mere possession of a real-estate license does not create a conflict of interest, or cause the need to recuse oneself as a member of the legislative body from any and all decisions dealing with real property.
The City Attorney went on to claim he
had not been aware of any facts that have caused the conclusion that you, Council member Wuo, had a conflict of interest regarding decisions that come before the council regarding real property.
Earlier this month Wuo told the Arcadia Weekly he’d worked as a real-estate consultant with Steve Chen, President of USFIA, whom he’d ‘known for two years’.
Whether or not the City Attorney was aware of Wuo’s working with Steve Chen as a real-estate consultant in Arcadia is unclear.
Following input from the City Attorney, Wuo continued on to address “strike two”: A trip to China for City Council members paid for by real-estate developers.
[1:25:16] Initially I thought it was a good idea to take the city staff to uh, y’know, visit uh the different cultures.
And but uhh, because (of) uproar of the residents we cancelled the trip.
Wuo maintains the City of Arcadia never received any money from real-estate developers set to fund the trip, despite reports of City Officials having “voted unanimously to call off a planned trip to China and return $30,000 in donations”.
Wuo then called upon the City Manager to “clarify the situation”.
[01:26:02] You are correct the city never received any donations for the trip to China.
We didn’t receive any checks, we didn’t receive any funds into our accounts.
There were no funds to return related to the China trip.
Next up was “strike three”, Wuo’s involvement in USFIA and their GemCoin Ponzi scheme.
[01:26:33] In regards to the GemCoin and allegations, and which uh Mr. Bursch (sp?) and Mr. Arvizu continue to uh pound in on that…
Y’know when I first time was mayor I attended over 700 events, in the City of Arcadia or in San Gabriel Valley.
And I made a lot of ceremonial speeches and I always wish them success in their business.
I’m not gunna go up there and say “I wish your business fails”.
Wuo did not elaborate on his working with Steve Chen as a real-estate consultant for two years.
I don’t know anything about GemCoin and I don’t have any financial interest in there.
Mr. Avizu you accused me of having an offshore account.
I don’t even have a foreign account in a foreign country. And I don’t even know how to open an offshore… I don’t even know where to open it.
Whether Wuo was claiming to “not know” how to open an offshore bank account, in the same vein he “doesn’t know anything about GemCoin”, is unclear.
[01:27:23] So, I would like you to at least be responsible with your comments and not make unfounded allegations.
And GemCoin, I was invited to present awards to some of those winners.
The “winners” Wuo mentions are top USFIA GemCoin investors, being awarded novelty-sized BMW keys.
These prizes were gien as performance incentives for their recruiting of new USFIA investors.
I was there at one of the events which I was in (a) suit.
And then the other one was a news conference Mr. Chen invited me to say a few words.
And those are the ceremonial speech.
I don’t… I didn’t y’know, on those things… it’s just uh… uh regular ceremonial congratulatory speech.
And you kinda just y’know, exaggerate on it. And I can assure you that I don’t have any financial, I don’t have any investment in the company.
Yes, they made me the Honorary Chairman but many companies, many associations made me an Honorary Chairman.
But the thing is, we have a code we go by.
Wuo didn’t elaborate on the code he was referencing, nor whether his working for Steve Chen as a real-estate consultant violated it.
As he continued, Wuo then sounded positively angry as his remarks took on an undercurrent of persecution.
[01:28:29] And I know you’ve been surfing the internet and over the last six months… I mean is this what you have?
I know you try to find some dirt of me but I can assure you that I don’t have any financial interest, I don’t have any involvement with that company.
I, y’know, your accusations about them being a Ponzi – we don’t know that and you don’t know that.
And it’s not up to me to make a determination, it’s up to the state.
To look into it and see if they are doing the Ponzi.
And all I did was represent the city, At that time I was the Mayor.
I don’t even represent the city, I basically.. they announced I’m the Mayor, which many of us have been serving as Mayor before, and that was it.
[01:29:40] I can’t believe you accused me of these things which are totally unfounded.
I challenge you to show me if I have an offshore account or have an account in a foreign country.
So let’s focus on the issue we have in hand.
Wuo’s “challenge” comes with the full knowledge that Arcadia residents do not have access to any offshore financial interests he might have.
And call me cynical, but Wuo’s wording sounded awfully like someone comfortable in the knowledge they’ve already covered their tracks.
Speaking of covering tracks, the US China Consultation Association (UCCA) website was also pulled offline earlier this week:
UCCA are credited with owning USFIA, who in turn run the GemCoin Ponzi scheme:
As of yet no reason for the UCCA website going offline has surfaced.
I had also wanted to capture footage of Wuo handing out the BMW prize on stage. When I went to view the previously publicly accessible YouTube video however, I found it has since been marked private.
Hoping to put the issue of his involvement in USFIA and GemCoin to rest, Wuo made a plea to the residents of Arcadia:
[01:29:57] So please, let’s keep focus on the issues we have in hand. Okay?
Which is (to) continue doing the City’s business. And rather than doing the personal attack on me.
The next Arcadia City Council meeting is scheduled for August 4th.
Whether or not Wuo’s ties to USFIA and GemCoin are placed on the agenda for discussion, as per David Arvizu’s suggestion, remains to be seen.
Footnote: The City of Arcadia’s July 21st City Council meeting is viewable over on their website.
Relevant timestamps are [01:09:06] for Tim Burch, [01:13:02] for David Arvizu and [01:23:16] for John Wuo’s response.
that was an interesting council meeting!
why did i get the feeling that the city council was not very supportive in letting residents speak their mind? there seemed to be some ‘brusqueness’, and an attitude of ‘hurry up and shut up’.
wuo had come prepared with his support staff of the city attorney and city manager, ready with their scripted support.
how did the city attorney not think that wuos connections with steve chen, were a conflict of interest with wuo’s council duties? the city attorney just made a sweeping statement clearing wuo, without addressing specifics.
just like the malaysian police chief waved his hand and said nafizuddin had nothing to do with ufun.
arcadia is not malaysia, and arcadians know that steve chen of gemcoin is in construction, and well known to john wuo.
and john wuo sits high up on the council pedestal, and asks residents to provide ‘proof’ of his connections to gem coin?
the best ‘proof’ would be to recall his ass out of that chair, that the people gave him.
and john wuo thinks surfing the internet is silly and not evidence? guess that explains why UCCA and wuo’s gemcoin videos are going offline!
john wuo should know that the internet is an information source used in ponzi/pyramid court cases.
was this city council meeting telecast LIVE on the 21st?
if so, i’m wondering why the sierra madre tattler didn’t carry an article on it! this was a bomb, wuo spoke, and his narrative had holes!
in malaysia and even in thailand, the press, after initial interest, backed off scalded, and refused to point fingers at the ‘powerful’ backing behind the ufun ponzi.
It was live on the 21st. I’m having a busy week so am a bit behind (gunna have to catchup on the weekend).
Didn’t he originally deny even being at any gemcoin event or even knowing what it was?
From memory Wuo initially denied knowing what GemCoin was. He acknowledged being at their events.
Dude worked with Steve Chen for two years, attended events, presented GemCoin awards, sang its praises on camera at USFIA events but claims he has no idea what it is… lolcakes.
in the city council meet of july 21st, john wuo wagged his finger at arcadia residents and scolded them for questioning his ties with gemcoin. he also scolded them for saying gemcoin is a ponzi scheme, because y’know only ‘the state’ is capable of recognizing ponzi schemes. at the same time he never said ‘hey state, i’m requesting you as an ex mayor/council member to look into this alleged ponzi scheme in my city’.
wuo told the press earlier, that he felt ‘used’ by gemcoin, but if he is not sure it is an illegal scheme, why was he feeling ‘used’?
probably emboldened by wuo’s ‘refusal’ to take action against them, gemcoin are [drummmroll] bringing their show to los angeles next month in august!
whats with eastern ponzis and ‘pageants’ anyway? ufun likes pageants, umatrin likes pageants, and even gemcoin likes pageants!
this is an announcement which will seem all too familiar:
translated it means^ right now they have no tie up with a processor, and [cough cough] they are Acquiring A Bank!!
every friggin ponzi wants it’s own private bank, because established ones refuse to touch them!
the only sham audit we saw, was of a CPA ‘counting stones’ all of the same size and color in the form of squeezie rings.
i guess we’re in for some more sham audits which will show those rings to be worth a bazillion dollars.
the good part is that chen and johnson will be back in los angeles next month, and the Arcadia city council can ask them some tough questions. arcadia is just 34 kms from los angeles. john wuo should drive down and spank chen for ‘using’ him.
There are questions whether Steve Chen’s brother may have travelled to Simojovel, Chiapas, Mexico, to entice local (including kids as young as 7) to mine amber… As it started 3 years ago… and USFIA started about 3 years ago too… Hmmm…
amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2015/07/usfia-update-is-usfia-involved-in-child.html
corruption follows the pageant circuits as well.
I’m sure having a pageant provides them with a steady diet of quality international trim during the ‘conference’ from young gal’s looking for a extra few points with the judges
Did you see this AFG-USFIA website listing Arcadia councilman John Wuo as 1 of 3 top management of USFIA?
Check the link that also promotes residential real estate investement in … you guessed … the city of Arcadia. Connect the dots guys.
Is AFG-UCCA-USFIA raising money through GemCoin for investment in residential real estate in Arcadia. Are they promoting real estate investment in Arcadia? Is real-estate broker John Wuo aiding, assisting in this? How and for what personal benefit?
investgemcoin.com
investgemcoin.com/usfia-afg-top-management/
Wow! Mr Wuo Spoken like a true Ponzi Pimp.
the arcadia weekly has covered the council meeting of july 21st:
my question is, and if the arcadia media are interested they could find out, which are the companies in which john wuo is a honorary chairman besides USFIA?
this should be publicly shared information as wuo is an elected city official.
wuo’s bio states:
his bio does not mention him being an honorary chair in any ‘private’ company.
really, if wuo makes statements on council records that “Yes, they made me the honorary chairman, but many companies, many associations have made me the honorary chairman”, he should clarify his statement.
we know from his bio that ‘associations’ have made him chair, but what is important in the USFIA context is, ‘which other private companies have made him honorary chair’.
the gemcoin allegation against wuo is a ‘specific’ allegation, and he should supply ‘specific’ answers, instead of sweeping general statements clearing himself of any wrongdoing.
arcadiaweekly.com/featured/arcadia-council-resumes-commercial-zoning-update-wuo-addresses-gemcoin-controversy/
the sierra madre tattler is reporting that residents of arcadia have begun their movement to recall john wuo and 2 others from their council seats.
the recall is because residents are not not happy about the development in and around arcadia which is supported by john wuo and the other two.
But, the ‘johnny gemcoin’ issue has no doubt added fuel to the fire and angered the residents into action:
sierramadretattler.blogspot.in/2015/07/arcadia-residents-set-out-to-recall.html
in april/may 2015, a group of USFIA investors made a call for a class action suit against USFIA, where the defendant is steve chen, and the mayor of arcadia [john wuo] is mentioned for collaboration.
a legal firm from los angeles, called JJS APC [Justin J. Shrenger] was engaged. JJS is an international law firm which also represents the interests of chinese people in the USA. this firm has probably been chosen because a lot of USFIA investors are from china.
so, what happened to this class action?
facebook.com/creer.ses.revenus.passifs/posts/521246231346675
@anjali
To answer you this, the reason why they have to emphasize on pageants and amber, because they have to find a way to inflate the value of their Amber to appear high, and make the “sale” legitimate.
They are running a MLM (maybe even a ponzi) business and selling amber.
As a package, they give out Gemcoin for free to attract investors. So if they don’t promote Amber but Gemcoin only, they are illegally raising investment fund without proper registration with SEC or Fincen.gov.
So selling Amber and promoting the value is a way for them to avoid legal issues. However, it’s very obvious why all the people put their money into their business.
Low value Amber or “free but high investment return” Gemcoin? You decide…
Btw, as far as we know, no one has really make money from both amber and Gemcoin yet…but only from recruiting commissions.
This weeks council meeting was quite the hoot!
Mr. Arvisu once again called out John Wuo regarding his ties to USFIA and Gemcoin. Wuo is still claiming the allegations are baseless against him.
Wuo was confronted with the presentations he gave outside of San Gabriel Valley on behalf of USFIA and Gemcoin and asked point blank if he has financial ties to UCCA and USFIA and Steve Chen. As usual he side stepped the question and did not give correct answers.
Keep up the excellent work and pressure Mr. Arvisu. There is more information out there (2:14-cv-02334-JFW-MRW ), and your work not only exposes the wrongdoings of others, it protects other potential victims.
Don’t give up (like they did in Walnut with Mary Su)
Did Wuo give the presentation in Nevada? That’s going to look hilarious next meeting if Arvizu rolls footage of Wuo at a Nevada event.
yes it was!
arvisu repeated in ‘verbatim’, john wuo’s speeches given at gemcoin events and said that they were ‘personal endorsements’ and not ‘ceremonial congratulations’.
he alleged that wuo had attended gemcoin events outside of san gabriel and wanted to know who funded the trips.
arvisu said john wuo knew a lot more about gemcoin that he was letting on. he complained that in the last meeting he got just five minutes to speak but wuo got 15-20 minutes to respond.
and guess what john wuo said in response:
– he hoped this to and fro of allegations and responses with arvisu would end
– he had not attended gemcoin events outside san gabriel
– he read out his biography about all the committees he’s been on in arcadia, hence that proves he loves arcadia
– he said arvisu was not a nice person
ahem, the above response of mr wuo is supposed to convince arcadia and the world that he has nothing to do with the gemcoin ponzi scheme, or UCCA or steve chen. if you do not believe him, You Are Not a Nice person!
spectrumstream.com/streaming/arcadia/2015_08_04.cfm
arvisu: at 1hr 38 min
john wuo: at 2hrs
About pageants… Seems USFIA employed many previous winners as sales ladies. They also appear at functions and such.
i’m not finding john wuo in palm springs or las vegas, nevada, attending a gemcoin function!
I believe what Arvizu is referencing is the March 2, 2014 Global Leadership Conference, which was held in Palm Springs.
There is video of this conference on youtube where both Chen and Wuo are shown addressing the attendees.
and if you can fathom the ads – I believe he is also referencing a few videos here..
NOLINK://www.ikoo8.com/video_play/XNzg4NTEyODQ0.html
Wuo is probably not stupid enough to appear in any more Gemcoin events unless it’s local to Arcadia or SoCal. He can just chalk it up to “participating in local events”.
However, as long as he remains “honorary chairman” of USFIA Arvizu won’t let him off the hook.
@KChang –
You are correct, and he’s likely playing dodging games, i.e. I wasnt there on behalf of Gemcoin, I was there as a guest of AFG/USFIA/UCCA/Golden Apple or any combination of the above.
If you want a truthful answer, you will have to ask the correct question.
I sure hope Arvizu doesn’t let up until we see an end coming from regulators.
can you provide a link for this video?
the las vegas video does not have john wuo in it? can you link to the exact video?
@anjali I will work on that when I get back to a desk/laptop system later this week.
New article on the tattler today but nothing really new
@anjali
Nolink://youtu.be/Guwq6rU8rwM
Found it with my phone
At around 19:10 we can see another Mannix sighting
@KChang – Really good long shot of Mannix at 11:37 in the above video. Does Chen explain who he is??
thanks.
so, this proves wuo was lying at the city council meet when he said he had not attended gemcoin functions in palmsprings.
do you have a link for the las vegas video too?
Nothing, just platitudes about his company, using the “American Mining” name in Chinese. John Wuo was there with platitudes too, lamenting about he wish he can also give out a bunch of MB’s.
Not at all – He was at a USFIA function, not a gemcoin function.
The latest council meeting on August 18th saw Arvizu at [25:30] hand out manilla folders with images of Wuo at GemCoin events.
He asked Wuo to clarify where those events took place and when, as well as specifically clarifying his relationship with GemCoin and Steve Chen.
Wuo from [1:04:32] does not respond, he spoke for a minute or so (we’ll probably get a carefully scripted response in two weeks).
spectrumstream.com/streaming/arcadia/2015_08_18.cfm#
It’s nice to see someone keeping the heat on him..
apparently gemcoin has had a makeover and is actually launching some altcoin, or so they claim. they claim that they have started the ‘proof of identity’ process and their e-wallets are ready.
does anyone have an idea about how expensive it is, to get some computer nerd to design a cryptocurrency for you?
just like global currency reserve [GCR], steve chen of gemcoin is also jumping on the ‘real bitcoin wagon’. as if some piss poor valueless altcoin will give any legitimacy to the ponzi/pyramid schemes they run!
this is what the somewhat changed website of gemcoin-usfia says:
yeah right, gemcoin is ‘legally recognized’ whatever that means!
and we know what those ‘productive gem mines’ spew out – same design, fake amber, squeezie rings!
and then – USFIA has a tie up with applepay, note gemcoin does not have a tie up.
USFIA must have been misrepresented to applepay as some political association for US-china collaboration, and USFIA is a registered fund.
so, applepay may have gotten swayed. time to write to applepay with links to all the gemcoin/USFIA articles here!
three cheers for arvizu for continuing to back wuo into a corner. i hope arcadia is supporting his fight. i hope he is sending all the information about gemcoin/USFIA/chen/wuo to the local and federal SEC offices too.
And the Tattler today has revealed another Arcadia councilman, Sho Tay as the owner of chineseusadaily.com, which contained a lovely article promoting USFIA.
The extent of Tay’s involvement is still not really clear, but his ties to Arcadia’s Best blog and ChineseUSADaily.com to raise some suspicions.
In checking the whois stuff for the newspaper, Tay listed his organization as Nutrilife, so this may not be his first venture into MLM scams..
Way to go Tattler, Arvizu and Arcadia residents. You’ve all come too far to give up.
NOLINK://www.achievemagazine.com/sho-sherry-tay.html
Yep – Guess this isn’t Sho Tay’s first rodeo. Amway is the root of all evil =)
DING – DING – DING We have a WINNER!
a link between WCM777 (Ming Xu) and these clowns comes to us from none other than Sho Tay’s wife – Sherry Tay. The ChineseDailyUSA.com news bringing us all of our favorite characters from World Capital Market.
NOLINK//www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqatpcOaixg
So… did Tay or his wife introduce Chen to Wuo?
Has Tay invested in GemCoin?
Sounds like the city meeting next week is gunna get awkward!
I’m thinking Tay is the link, not his wife.
He also has a few sites registered to him which draw even more suspicion his involvement in both the political side of the development fiasco and MLM/Ponzi/Pyramid fraud in Arcadia.