Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese businessman and outspoken critic of Beijing’s communist government, faced conviction on Tuesday in his U.S. trial for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from online followers. The trial, lasting seven weeks, ended with Guo found guilty on nine of the 12 criminal counts, including racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres scheduled his sentencing for November 19, with Guo potentially facing decades in prison.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Guo of raising more than $1 billion by assuring his social media followers they would not lose money if they joined his various investment and cryptocurrency schemes from 2018 to 2023. Guo claimed these schemes would help challenge China’s government. Prosecutors stated that Guo, a former real estate mogul, spent the money on luxury items such as a New Jersey mansion, a red Lamborghini, and a yacht.
“Thousands of Guo’s online followers fell victim so that Guo could live a life of excess,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement after the verdict.
Guo’s defense lawyers depicted him as a passionate dissident who flaunted his wealth to criticize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They urged jurors to carefully consider the case and not rush to judgment. Defense lawyer Sidhardha Kamaraju argued, “Mr. Guo didn’t care about the money. He cared about the movement.”
Prosecutor Juliana Murray countered, “The defense lawyer is right that Guo cared about the anti-CCP movement. And one of the reasons he loved it is because it was his personal piggybank.”
During his closing argument, prosecutor Ryan Finkel showed jurors videos of Guo pitching investments, including several where Guo wore sunglasses and stood on a yacht deck. Earlier in the trial, jurors handled keys to the Lamborghini that authorities found in Guo’s Connecticut estate garage. Kamaraju claimed the New Jersey mansion and Lamborghini were not Guo’s personal property but amenities for a luxury membership club for his followers.
Guo has remained jailed since his March 2023 arrest. Finkel also presented jurors with a video of Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, promoting one of Guo’s ventures at a 2018 press conference. Authorities arrested Bannon on Guo’s yacht, the Lady May, in an unrelated fraud case in August 2020. Trump later pardoned Bannon.
