Chinese billionaire sentenced to 30 years in US prison for fraud

Photo shows the Twitter page of Chinese businessman Guo Wengui on August 30, 2017
Andy Wong/AP
A self-exiled Chinese billionaire, who was once considered one of the richest men in China, was sentenced on Monday (29) to 30 years in prison in the United States for financial fraud.
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Guo Wengui, who fled China a decade ago heading to the USA and reinventing himself as a critic of Xi Jinping's Communist Party, he was found guilty of large-scale fraud, harming more than a thousand people and sustaining a luxurious lifestyle with the hundreds of millions of dollars raised, concluded judge Analisa Torres. According to her, Wengui "exploited those who sought to bring democracy to China."
The Chinese billionaire was convicted on nine of the 12 criminal charges against him. The prosecution asked for 30 years in prison against him for what it called an astonishing fraud carried out between 2018 and 2023. Judge Torres also ordered Guo to pay US$889 million (around R$4.6 billion) in compensation to the victims.
Wengui has been in preventive prison in the US since March 2023. Before that, the billionaire approached conservative political strategist Steve Bannon, with whom he announced, in 2020, a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.
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Prosecutors claim that Wengui convinced hundreds of thousands of people to invest more than US$1 billion (R$5.17 billion) in entities under his control, and the illegally obtained resources supported "a lifestyle of extraordinary excess", with mansions, yachts, racing cars, designer clothes and luxury furniture. He lived in a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park and had joined then-President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida.
In handing down the sentence, the judge read excerpts from letters received from victims who reported having lost their life savings, as well as suffering severe anxiety, shame and even family conflicts due to investment decisions.
Wengui's defense stated that the billionaire is the victim of "broad, constant and potentially fatal" persecution by the Communist Party Chinese, and defended the origin of his fortune both before arriving in the US and during the campaign with Bannon. They alleged that the party recruited influential figures in the US business, entertainment and political sectors to conspire against him.
Before the sentence against him was handed down, the Chinese billionaire protested the treatment he received in prison, saying he was taken to hospital on Monday morning with a case of vomiting. He also briefly said in his defense that he aimed to "destroy the Chinese Communist Party."
On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry said it had taken note of the sentence and highlighted that Guo is wanted by the Chinese government, with an Interpol red alert in effect - a request for police forces around the world to detain him for extradition purposes.

Source: G1