US court sentences Miles Guo to 30 years for billion-dollar investor fraud

Judge Analisa Torres handed the exiled Chinese billionaire the longest available sentence after nine fraud convictions, ordering $889 million in forfeiture; prosecutors say he raised over $1 billion from followers while building an anti-Beijing media empire with Steve Bannon

Summary

Manhattan federal Judge Analisa Torres sentenced Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, to 30 years in prison Monday after conviction on nine of twelve fraud charges. Prosecutors said Guo raised more than $1 billion from hundreds of thousands of followers through GTV Media Group, the Himalaya Farm Alliance, and the Himalaya Exchange cryptocurrency platform, routing funds into a 152-foot superyacht and a Fifth Avenue penthouse. Torres ordered $889 million in forfeiture and told the court Guo had "preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China." He had fled China a decade ago and built a US-based anti-CCP media operation alongside former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who in 2020 co-announced with Guo a joint effort to topple the Chinese Communist Party.

Why it matters

Beijing quietly benefits from a verdict that discredits a prominent overseas dissident. The conviction collapses a major fundraising network for Bannon-aligned diaspora media, leaving hundreds of thousands of overseas Chinese investors with losses the court valued at over $1 billion.