Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui found guilty on federal fraud charges

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW YORK — Guo Wengui, the exiled Chinese billionaire, was convicted in a US federal court on Tuesday for defrauding thousands of his followers of more than $1 billion.

Guilty of nine out of 12 counts involving racketeering conspiracy and securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, Guo, who is also known as Miles Guo, “faces decades in prison” when the judge hands down a sentence on November 19, according to the prosecutor.

“Miles Guo ... brazenly operated several interrelated fraud schemes, all designed to fleece his loyal followers out of their hard-earned money” to fund his luxury lifestyle when he was in exile, US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the verdict. “Today, Guo’s schemes have been put to an end.”

After the verdict, Guo smiled at his lawyers and dozens of staunch supporters, who stuffed the courtroom throughout the seven-week trial in New York. He then hugged lawyer Sabrina Shroff and shook hands with other members of the defense team.

Guo’s defense lawyers declined to comment on the verdict. When his supporters rushed out of the courtroom, a handful of them could be seen sobbing. Hao Haidong, a former soccer player for China’s national team and one of Guo’s closest allies, declined to comment.

Guo, who was exiled from China in 2014, gained a huge number of loyal followers during a series of livestreaming events when he portrayed himself as a former insider to reveal scandals, sometimes fabricated, of senior Chinese officials and elite businessmen.

Guo is a close ally to former President Donald Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon, who reported to federal prison earlier this month to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Ryan Finkel told the jury that Bannon was paid $1 million by Guo because Guo wanted to “use Bannon’s notoriety and his fame to promote himself.”

Finkel said in the closing arguments last week that Guo raised more than $1 billion by guaranteeing his online followers that they would not lose money if they invested in his business and cryptocurrency schemes from 2018 to 2023.

Prosecutors said Guo used money raised from victims as his “personal piggy bank” to maintain his luxurious lifestyle in the United States, after governments of China and Hong Kong seized his assets for money laundering investigations in 2017.

“Guo’s schemes were sprawling,” Finkel said. “They were vast. But they collapsed to a simple, inescapable, and obvious truth: Miles Guo lied to take other people’s money.”

Guo’s lawyer, Sidhardha Kamaraju, described Guo as a political dissident who had to conceal his locations and use cryptocurrency to move money freely from an oppressive regime. Kamaraju’s final witness detailed that Jho Low, a Malaysian fugitive wanted by the US government, spent around $100 million trying to lobby the Trump administration to get Guo extradited to China.

“The goal of making investors rich was also a way to spit in the eyes of the CCP,” Kamaraju said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “Mr. Guo is simply trying to show people that they could live the same life afforded to China’s elites ... elites like him.”

Prosecutors argued that Guo’s political activism did not play a role in the fraud.

“Is Miles Guo a real political activist or not? I don’t know. I don’t care ... because that’s not what this trial is about,” said prosecutor Juliana Murray in her rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument.

“Guo preyed on a community of individuals who shared in the anti-CCP view,” Murray said.

Murray also replayed for the jury a secretly recorded phone call between Guo and his subordinates in 2021.

“Just shut up. Shame on you. Shameless bastard, go to hell,” Guo was heard lashing out in Mandarin to his subordinates over the frustration that he couldn’t move $100 million between companies. “You bastard, get the f**k out of here!”

“That’s the boss of a criminal enterprise,” Murray said. — CNN