A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui to 30 years in prison on Monday for a financial fraud that devastated thousands of victims worldwide.
Judge Analisa Torres said the fraud cost over 1,000 people hundreds of millions of dollars, describing Guo as a man who exploited those who believed in democratic reform in China.
Torres said Guo “preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China,” taking their money so he could live lavishly, according to statements made during the sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors said Guo’s scheme ran from 2018 to 2023 and was so “astonishing” in scale that it “destroyed hundreds of lives” and left victims financially, emotionally, and psychologically devastated.
Guo was convicted of nine of 12 criminal charges following a seven-week trial in which prosecutors argued he deceived thousands of investors through a series of bogus deals.
The judge ordered Guo to forfeit $889 million in restitution, reflecting the enormous scale of the financial damage caused by his fraudulent enterprises.
Prosecutors argued that his ill-gotten gains fueled “a lifestyle of extraordinary excess and indulgence, a gilded life of mansions, yachts, race cars, designer clothes and luxury furnishings.”
Victim Wei Chen told Judge Torres during the hearing that Guo’s fraud “destroyed my life” and the lives of her family members, capturing the human cost of the scheme.
Torres noted that Guo “takes no responsibility for his actions and instead insists incredibly his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one,” and that he had encouraged supporters to harass those who spoke out against him.
Before sentencing, Guo briefly addressed the court and justified his presence in the United States by stating, “The reason I came to the U.S. was to destroy the CCP.”
Guo also complained about his treatment in custody, claiming he was taken to the hospital on the morning of his sentencing and later telling the court, “I have a tummy ache, I need to go to the bathroom, I don’t feel well.”
Before his arrest three years ago, Guo had cultivated close ties with conservative political strategist Steve Bannon, with the two men announcing a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government in 2020.
He had also lived in a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park and held membership at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida.
Prosecutors said Guo convinced hundreds of thousands of people to invest more than $1 billion in entities he controlled, including GTV Media Group Inc., the Himalaya Farm Alliance, and the Himalaya Exchange.
His defense lawyers argued that Guo was himself a victim of the Chinese Communist Party’s “grand, pervasive, and life threatening” pursuit, and claimed the party had recruited elites across U.S. business, entertainment, and politics to conspire against him.
Defense attorneys also contended that a lengthy prison term would only validate China’s smear campaign and “embolden further efforts to eliminate Chinese dissidents from public life,” while noting defendants in comparable cases received two-to-four year sentences.
The government alleged in presentence filings that Guo, also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, was “entirely unrepentant” and had exploited lax U.S. asylum laws to build his fraudulent empire on American soil.
As Guo was led from the courtroom following sentencing, supporters who had packed the gallery applauded and shouted toward him in a show of continued loyalty.
