TL;DR:
- Guo Wengui was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States for orchestrating a cryptocurrency fraud scheme exceeding $1 billion.
- A jury found him guilty in July 2024 on nine counts of fraud and conspiracy for deceiving hundreds of thousands of online followers.
- The judge also ordered the forfeiture of $889 million as restitution to the victims of the fraudulent scheme.
Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States for fraud tied to cryptocurrencies. Federal judge Analisa Torres handed down the sentence and also ordered the forfeiture of $889 million as restitution. Guo had fled China more than a decade ago and had built a public image as a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, cultivating a sizeable audience among Chinese communities abroad.
Prosecutors argued that this image was the central instrument of the scheme: the businessman leveraged his influence to draw followers into fraudulent investments, including cryptocurrency projects that never delivered on their promises.
Guo Built a Fraud on His Followers’ Trust
The businessman was arrested in March 2023 on charges of orchestrating a fraud that extracted more than $1 billion from thousands of people. The Department of Justice noted at the time that he obtained more than $262 million through the Himalaya Exchange, a crypto ecosystem he presented as legitimate.
In July 2024, a unanimous jury found him guilty on nine counts of fraud and conspiracy, primarily for soliciting investments through false statements about entities he directly controlled, including GTV Media, the Himalaya Farm Alliance, G|CLUBS and the Himalaya Exchange itself. According to the Department of Justice, Guo promised disproportionate returns in exchange for capital contributions that he in fact directed toward personal expenses, including the purchase of a mansion and luxury vehicles.
Judge Torres stated during the hearing that Guo “preyed upon” those who sought to bring democracy to China and that he never accepted responsibility for his actions. In his own words before the court, the businessman claimed his reason for coming to the United States was to “destroy the CCP,” according to the Associated Press.
The SEC Enters the Case
Alongside the criminal proceedings, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Guo and his financial advisor William Je in March 2023 over a scheme that raised hundreds of millions of dollars through a crypto asset called H-Coin or Himalaya Coin. The case also revealed the businessman’s ties to Steve Bannon, former strategist for Donald Trump, with whom he announced in 2020 an initiative called the New Federal State of China, aimed at overthrowing the Chinese government.
