Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui has been convicted by a New York jury for swindling over $1 billion from his supporters to fund his opulent lifestyle. Guo, known for his outspoken criticism of Beijing, faced charges including racketeering and fraud, with potential sentences of up to 20 years each. His trial revealed a web of deceit where he allegedly used his influence to lure investors into schemes under the guise of political activism against the Chinese Communist Party. Despite claims of persecution by Beijing, Guo’s conviction marks a stunning turn for the once high-flying businessman, whose lavish possessions and strategic alliances came under intense scrutiny during the proceedings.

Controversial China critic Guo Wengui was found guilty on Tuesday by a New York jury of defrauding his supporters of over $1 billion to fund his opulent lifestyle.

Nine of the twelve federal accusations against Guo—including a broad charge of racketeering and many associated fraud charges—were upheld in his conviction. Guo may lose his assets and receive penalties of up to 20 years in prison on several of the counts. Sentencing was planned for November 19 by Judge Analisa Torres. Guo was taken into federal detention in March 2023 and was not granted bail reports The Wall Street Journal.

The odd tale of Guo, a businessman with numerous aliases, including Miles Guo and Brother Seven, who established an image as a wealthy Chinese insider but later became Beijing’s number one adversary, is punctuated by the felony conviction. In the end, it might derail his asylum request to stay in the United States, away from Beijing officials who have openly expressed their intention to punish him.

Remaining composed throughout the reading of the jury’s judgment, Guo maintained the same air of confidence that he had displayed for most of the trial. He frequently thumped his chest or pressed his palms together to greet fans in the gallery while wearing an immaculate Italian suit. We anticipate an appeal from him.

Prosecutors claimed during 29 days of testimony that Guo’s acts were the result of pressure from the Chinese Communist Party, but they rejected any argument that would have justified his illegality.

Over four days, the jury deliberated; however, there were some glitches in the proceedings, as one juror was ejected by the judge for accessing the internet to look up an alleged co-conspirator in the case.

According to the authorities, Guo used his standing among the Chinese diaspora to promote his ideas as a means of making money while also undermining the Communist Party. According to the authorities, his broadcaster GTV raised $411 million, G-Club raised $240 million, and a cryptocurrency company brought in $517 million.

Guo advertised investments online as respectable business endeavors supported by gold or his assurances. Prosecutors claimed that Guo’s allies assisted him in moving hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds through several banks and shell corporations for his gain when he was having financial difficulties.

“Guo claimed to be a political activist, and he sucked people in. He brainwashed some of them, he convinced them he could help them, that he was trustworthy. “He attracted people like a magnet, people who agreed with his message,” Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Finkel told the jury. He deceived them. He conned them. He defrauded them,” Finkel said.

Prosecutors said that Guo allegedly directed millions of dollars toward well-known American opponents of Beijing, such as hedge fund investor Kyle Bass and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, to build support for his campaign, which he dubbed the New Federal State of China. Although neither man was prosecuted, the government said that both assisted Guo in giving the investments a credible appearance.

The jury was shown a video of Bannon declaring that Guo would invest $100 million in an unrealized organization, and there was evidence presented that Bass’s hedge firm had lost almost $30 million of investor capital in a disastrous currency wager.

Bannon, who is incarcerated for other crimes, has not responded to the accusations made against Guo. Bass was not called to testify in court, despite being expected to speak on behalf of the government. In an email, Bass said that until he was notified by the authorities and took action to separate himself from Guo, he had no proof of any dishonest actions on Guo’s part or awareness of how his name was being used.

Even if the government decides not to extradite Guo to China, the conviction will likely result in a lengthy prison sentence and complicate his legal status in the United States, according to Christopher Pelham, a former federal prosecutor who currently serves as the head of litigation and disputes for the global investigations team at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. However, Guo’s conviction on fraud charges, despite his claims to be an at-risk dissident, according to Pelham, may increase American skepticism of Chinese individuals seeking asylum in the United States.

The government showed the jury images and recordings of extravagant homes in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, along with a yacht, Bugatti, Ferrari, and Lamborghini, as well as racks of Italian clothes. The government said that these extravagances were funded by donations from supporters. The prosecution presented flow charts and bank accounts that they claimed demonstrated how investor millions paid for a home, chandeliers, beds, and a Ferrari for Guo’s son. They also played music videos of Guo on a yacht and next to a private jet.

Despite not testifying, Guo denied the accusations.

Guo and his huge family, according to his defense team, had amassed an incredible fortune and did not need stealing. They offered proof that a large number of the properties the government said were purchased with illicit money weren’t registered in Guo’s name and that houses, vehicles, and boats were designated for use by Guo’s supporters. Furthermore, they said that any financial deceit was a reflection of Beijing’s attempts to outwit them, as Beijing attempted to force banks to cut off Guo.

“Mr. Guo didn’t care about the money. He cared about the movement,” said defense attorney Sidhardha Kamaraju.

According to the defense, Guo’s supporters invested money in the projects not for financial gain but rather to achieve a common goal of weakening the Chinese Communist Party. “It’s not a racketeering enterprise, it’s a political one,” Kamaraju said.

Another defense lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, told jurors early in the trial that Guo’s outspokenness resulted in the detention of family members in China and security threats against him. This caused the defendant to cry for a few minutes into the lapel of his suit.

Beijing has designated Guo as a wanted criminal on the run and dispatched agents to find him. China exerted pressure on the Trump administration to remove him from the United States by means of American intermediaries. Former Justice Department attorney George Higginbotham, who testified as the defense’s last witness, described trying to arrange for Guo’s expulsion from the United States in a deal worth about $100 million that was supported by Chinese authorities and a wanted Malaysian, Jho Low, who is wanted in the United States on suspicion of stealing billions of dollars from a Malaysian development fund.

China’s actions, according to the prosecution, do not justify breaking the law. Finkel declared, “The [Communist Party] canard is a scapegoat.”

They claim Guo started plotting when Chinese officials confiscated his fortune from him in 2018 for developing real estate in China, and he intensified his efforts when American securities regulators exposed one of his business endeavors. In 2022, he declared personal bankruptcy, stating that his liabilities were between $100 million and $500 million, and his assets were limited to $100,000. Finkel claimed that he was no longer able to portray himself as a billionaire.

Among the more than thirty witnesses summoned by the government were Chinese immigrants who claimed they invested substantial sums of money in Guo’s businesses because they agreed with his criticism of Beijing and believed he was investing with them.

Wei Chen, a Virginia-based bank risk manager of Chinese descent, expressed her excitement to take part in a private placement of Guo’s media company shares after hearing him characterize it as a risk-free investment in a venture that might potentially compete with YouTube. She said, “I trusted him.”

She stated in court that she still owes Guo $1.1 million for her investments in projects that she helped finance in part with a second mortgage.

“He’s [a] shameless and heartless cheater and fraudster,” she said from the witness stand.

A guy employed by Guo’s group was one of the other prosecution witnesses. He admitted to lying to banks “to make sure that accounts get opened and stay open” in the middle of a rush of wire transfers between businesses.

The jury was also informed of Guo’s peculiarities, such as his worry over purchasing a haunted house and employing a security guard whose zodiac sign was the pig, which is considered “unlucky” in Chinese culture.

Every day, dozens of Guo admirers crammed themselves into the courtroom; some claimed he was being punished as a result of a shady agreement between Beijing and Washington. “And you’re not going to be implying at any point that the government is being manipulated by the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party, correct?” Torres asked Guo’s attorneys in a sidebar, telling them not to suggest anything of the sort to the jury.

Even though Kamaraju told the jury that “for Mr. Guo, it’s certainly reasonable for him to fear that the CCP had once again tried to use the channels of the U.S. government against him,” the defense team insisted that was not their stance.

During a portion of the trial, retired Chinese soccer player Hao Haidong and his spouse, former world badminton champion Ye Zhaoying, were present in court. Hao Haidong occasionally wore clothing from Guo’s design line. In 2020, the pair caused a stir in China when they declared that Guo’s videos had motivated them to openly criticize the Communist Party.

Yu Renzhe, who claimed to have lost almost $250,000, was among those who claimed to be Guo’s victims and attended. Yu flew to Ecuador, traveled to the southern U.S. border, and is currently staying in a shelter in New York, partially in an attempt to get his money back that he had invested while in China. Yu was hit by a Guo supporter outside the courthouse following the announcement of the decision, causing him to bleed.

Paul Doran, a corporate risk expert with experience in China who testified on behalf of the defense, called Guo the “public enemy No. 1 in China” and suggested that having numerous bank accounts and cell phones, as Guo did, would be a prudent security precaution for someone of that caliber.

“Sleeping on a $35,000 mattress has nothing to do with protecting yourself from CCP targeting, right?” a government lawyer then questioned Doran.

Last year, GreatGameInternational reported that two Indian-origin startup executives, Outcome Health co-founder and former CEO Rishi Shah, and co-founder and former president Shradha Agarwal, were convicted of a $1 billion fraud in the US.