One of the largest individual fraud prosecutions in recent memory ended Monday with a 30-year sentence for a man who reinvented himself, in exile, as both a dissident hero and a swindler.

Thirty years for a billion-dollar con

Guo Wengui — also known as Miles Guo and, in court papers, Ho Wan Kwok — was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $889 million, the Associated Press reported. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, of the Southern District of New York, said Guo had taken "no responsibility for his actions," insisting his conduct "caused no loss and harmed no one." A Manhattan jury convicted him in July 2024 on nine of twelve counts, including racketeering, money laundering, securities fraud and wire fraud.

Who he is

Guo, in his early 50s, fled China about a decade ago amid corruption allegations and a falling-out with Communist Party officials, then rebuilt himself in the United States as a firebrand critic of Beijing with a devoted following among overseas Chinese dissidents. That celebrity made him an attractive partner for the conservative strategist Steve Bannon. Between 2018 and 2020 the two launched GTV Media Group and other anti-CCP ventures; prosecutors said a Guo-controlled entity made regular $500,000 payments to Bannon, the Washington Post reported. Bannon was not charged in connection with Guo's fraud.

The schemes

Prosecutors said the fraud ran from 2018 to 2023 through several overlapping vehicles. GTV Media raised roughly $452 million in an unregistered stock offering, plus about $150 million in loans, from investors told they were backing a global anti-CCP media empire. A luxury membership program, G|CLUBS, collected an estimated $250 million; a cryptocurrency platform, the Himalaya Exchange, drew about $262 million through a token marketed to followers; and a "farm loan" program added another strand. Combined losses topped $1 billion, with more than 1,000 victims worldwide — many of them dissidents who contributed their savings.

How the money was spent

Federal prosecutors documented lavish spending from investor funds: a roughly $37 million yacht, a $26 million New Jersey mansion, an apartment overlooking Central Park, and — a detail highlighted at trial — two mattresses costing $36,000 each. Judge Torres said Guo had "preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China."

What comes next

A co-defendant, Yvette Wang, was sentenced to 10 years in January 2025, and another, identified in court papers as William Je, faces related charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission had earlier reached a civil settlement worth more than $539 million with Guo-linked entities. Guo's Central Park apartment is being sold to help return money to victims, and the $889 million forfeiture ranks among the largest such orders in a recent individual fraud case in Manhattan's federal court.