A US court has found self-exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui guilty of defrauding his online followers in a scam valued at billions of dollars.He faced verdicts of guilt on nine of the twelve criminal charges against him. The charges include racketeering, fraud, and money laundering. Guo is scheduled to be sentenced on November 19, facing the possibility of decades in prison. He has been in custody since his arrest in March 2023.
Guo, a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was an associate of Stephen Bannon, former White House chief strategist under President Donald Trump. He goes by various names, such as Miles Guo, Miles Kwok, and “Brother Seven.” Authorities formally charged him under the name Ho Wan Kwok in 2023.
Prosecutors stated that between 2018 and 2023, Guo raised over $1 billion (£770 million) from his online followers through investment and cryptocurrency schemes. He used the funds to support his extravagant lifestyle, which included a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $1 million Lamborghini, and a $37 million yacht.
US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan said after the verdict, ” Guo Wengui victimized thousands of his online followers so he could live a life of excess.”
Guo’s political activism and connections to high-profile, right-wing US politicians and activists attracted hundreds of thousands of online followers, primarily Chinese people living in Western countries. Guo’s lawyers argued unsuccessfully that money did not motivate him. Instead, they portrayed him as a fervent opponent of China’s political system who used his lavish lifestyle to critique the Chinese Communist Party.