Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, also known as Miles Guo, has been found guilty of defrauding his supporters in a billion-dollar scam associated with his company, GTV Media Group.
US Attorney’s Statement
“Thousands of Guo’s online followers were victimized so that Guo could live a life of excess. Today, Guo’s schemes have been put to an end,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
He added that a unanimous jury delivered the verdict, resulting in charges of racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, which could potentially lead to decades of imprisonment for Guo.
Guo’s Legal Troubles Began in 2023
Guo’s legal troubles began in March 2023 when he was arrested in New York. Since then, he has remained in custody. Notably, shortly after his arrest, a fire broke out in his opulent penthouse located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Prosecutors presented evidence during the trial, revealing that Guo had deceived investors out of nearly $1 billion to finance his extravagant lifestyle. Furthermore, in a separate case, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against Guo for an alleged scheme related to a crypto venture called H-Coin.
The H-Coin Scheme
The venture purportedly raised $500 million from retail investors, with Guo falsely claiming that it was backed by 20% gold reserves.
Guo has had a longstanding association with political strategist Steve Bannon, who briefly served in the Trump White House. In 2020, they jointly announced an initiative called the New Federal State of China, which aimed to overthrow the Chinese government.
Bannon himself faced legal consequences when he was arrested on Guo’s yacht in August 2020. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a crowdfunding campaign for a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Although later pardoned by former President Trump, Bannon faced separate fraud charges from state-level prosecutors.
Scam Operators Flourish on Huione Guarantee
Huione Guarantee, an online marketplace operated by the Cambodian conglomerate Huione Group, has been involved in facilitating online scams in Southeast Asia. As reported, the platform has facilitated transactions exceeding $11 billion, with a significant portion of these funds linked to money laundering and cyber scams, according to a recent research report by Elliptic.
Using blockchain analytics, the Elliptic research team was able to quantify the cryptocurrency transactions on the Huione Guarantee. The marketplace primarily operates in Chinese and involves numerous instant messaging app channels, each managed by separate merchants.
Furthermore, Huione Pay has been implicated in laundering over $150,000 in cryptocurrency stolen by the notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus. According to a Reuters report on Monday, the Phnom Penh-based company received the illicit funds between June last year and February this year, as revealed by blockchain data. The stolen cryptocurrency was linked to hacks of three crypto firms conducted by Lazarus in June and July last year.
