Accused of defrauding over $1 billion/ Chinese billionaire sentenced to 30 years in prison in the US

2026-06-30 08:41:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Accused of defrauding over $1 billion/ Chinese billionaire sentenced to 30 years

A self-imposed exile in the United States has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding investors of more than $1 billion (around 880 million euros).

A federal jury in New York found Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, guilty of several criminal counts, including financial fraud and money laundering. Federal Judge Analisa Torres said his fraudulent scheme affected hundreds of investors around the world.

According to the court ruling, Guo exploited the trust of people who supported the cause of democracy in China, while using the funds obtained to finance his luxurious lifestyle. The court also ordered the confiscation of 889 million dollars and compensation to the victims.

Guo Wengui is a former real estate tycoon who fled China in 2015 after Chinese authorities charged him with fraud. Beijing has also accused him of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, charges he has consistently denied.

After settling in the US, Guo became a well-known critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and worked closely with former US political strategist and former advisor to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon.

In June 2020, Guo and Bannon announced the creation of the political movement "New Federal State of China", which declared the overthrow of the current Chinese government as its goal.

However, in August 2020, Bannon was arrested on Guo's yacht on charges related to the embezzlement of funds raised for the US-Mexico border wall project. Although he received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in the federal case, in 2025 he pleaded guilty in a similar case at the state level and was sentenced to three years of probation, with no prison time.

Guo was also a member of Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, DW reports. In 2023, he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in New York. Prosecutors argued that Guo's fraudulent scheme, which was carried out between 2018 and 2023, caused huge financial losses for hundreds of investors around the world.

During the trial, Guo denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers claimed that he was being targeted by Chinese authorities for political reasons.