Chinese Fugitive Billionaire Guo Wengui Sentenced to 30 Years in US for Billion-Dollar Fraud
An exiled Chinese billionaire has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States on Monday after being found guilty of defrauding investors of more than USD 1 billion (approximately IDR 16 trillion). A jury in New York convicted Guo Wengui on several charges, including fraud and money laundering. According to the judge, his actions harmed hundreds of investors from various countries.
Guo Wengui, a property tycoon also known as Miles Guo or Ho Wan Kwok, fled China and settled in the US in 2015 after facing fraud charges in his home country. The Chinese government also accused him of rape, kidnapping, bribery, and other criminal acts, all of which he has denied. In the US, Guo became known as a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party and developed a close relationship with Steve Bannon, a former advisor to US President Donald Trump. In June 2020, Guo and Bannon founded a political movement called the New Federal State of China, which they described as a lobbying group aimed at overthrowing the Communist Party government. A few months later, in August 2020, Bannon was arrested aboard Guo’s yacht and charged with embezzling funds intended for the construction of the US-Mexico border wall, a key Trump campaign promise from the 2016 election. Trump later granted Bannon a federal pardon before leaving his first term, though in 2025, Bannon pleaded guilty to similar state-level charges and received a three-year conditional release, avoiding prison time. Guo, who was once a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida, was arrested by the FBI in New York in 2023.
US District Judge Analisa Torres stated that Guo exploited people who supported the democratic struggle in China to raise money, which he then used to finance his extravagant lifestyle. The judge also ordered Guo to pay USD 889 million (approximately IDR 14.5 trillion) in restitution to the victims. Prosecutors said the fraudulent scheme ran from 2018 to 2023, causing significant losses for hundreds of investors across multiple countries. Guo continues to deny any wrongdoing, and his legal team maintains he is being targeted by the Chinese government. “The reason I came to the United States was to destroy the Chinese Communist Party,” Guo said in court. His former business associate, Yvette Wang, was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison for her involvement in the fraud scheme.