Bannon Ally Guo Wengui Guilty of $1B Fraud

Guo Wengui, a self-exiled Chinese business tycoon whose criticism of the Communist Party won him legions of online followers and powerful friends in the American conservative movement, was convicted by a US jury Tuesday of engaging in a massive multiyear fraud that ripped off some of his most devoted fans, the AP reports.

• Once believed to be among the richest people in China, Guo was arrested in New York in March of 2023 and accused of operating a racketeering enterprise that stretched from 2018 through 2023.
• Over a seven-week trial, he was accused of deceiving thousands of people who put money into bogus investments and using the money to preserve a luxurious lifestyle. He was convicted of nine of 12 criminal counts, including racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors said hundreds of thousands of people were convinced to invest more than $1 billion in entities Guo controlled.

• In a statement after the verdict, US Attorney Damian Williams said Guo's interrelated fraud schemes were "all designed to fleece his loyal followers out of their hard-earned money so that Guo could spend his days in his 50,000 square foot mansion, driving his $1 million Lamborghini, or lounging on his $37 million yacht."
• Guo is a close ally of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who was named as a co-conspirator but not indicted, the New York Times reports. In 2020, the two announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.
• Guo, who is also known by the name Miles Kwok, left China in 2014 during an anticorruption crackdown that ensnared people close to him, including a top intelligence official. He applied for political asylum in the US, moved to a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, and joined Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida.

• Defense lawyer Sidhardha Kamaraju told the jury that prosecutors had presented a case "long on rhetoric but short on specifics, long on talk, but short on evidence." Kamaraju said Guo was the "founder and face" of a pro-Chinese democracy movement that attracted thousands of political dissidents. Kamaraju urged jurors to think about whether Guo would intentionally cheat his fellow movement members.
• Assistant US Attorney Ryan Finkel said everyone agreed that Guo was targeted by China's Communist Party, but that did not give Guo "a license to rob from these people." Finkel said Guo also created a "blacklist" of his enemies and posted their personal information online. His supporters demonstrated outside the home of a government witness and went to the elementary school where the man's wife was a teacher, the Times reports.
• Guo could face decades in prison when he is sentenced on November 19, the BBC reports. He has been detained since his arrest last year.

(More Guo Wengui stories.)