Another thing the U.S. will do if it think you will be a high profile defector get you up on criminal charges. I believe this guy may have been targeted because he looked up shit online. This guy fleeing to North Korea had something going on with him, again looking up defecting or immigration is a bad move. They will make it difficult financially while they manufacture some nonsense to discredit you.
Julian Assange was labeled as a rapist/criminal seeking political asylum to escape the justice system. Russell Simmons could have been targeted in a similar manner if he was looking hard at immigrating. Just being high profile and spending too much time in another country can raise red flags. Lets say Jeff Bezos builds a house in another country and spends 99% of his time there, that can be considered defacto political asylum, a rape claim will come out labeling him a criminal trying to escape the justice sytem.
Another thing is labeling you as having mental health issues by staging a car accident, than if you question it, put you in a psych ward. Finally, with assets they have planted in the country, starting a whisper campaign with half truths
Many other countries utilize the same tactics.