NEW YORK: Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese language businessman and outspoken opponent of Beijing’s communist authorities, was convicted on Tuesday (Jul 16) in his US trial on costs of stealing lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from on-line followers.
Guo was convicted on 9 of the 12 legal counts he confronted, together with racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud, in a trial that lasted seven weeks.
He may face a long time in jail. US District Choose Analisa Torres set his sentencing for Nov 19.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan mentioned Guo raised greater than US$1 billion by guaranteeing followers on social media that they’d not lose cash in the event that they joined him in a collection of funding and cryptocurrency schemes from 2018 to 2023, a few of which he mentioned would go towards difficult China’s authorities.
Prosecutors say the onetime actual property mogul spent the cash on luxurious items together with a New Jersey mansion, a purple Lamborghini and a yacht.
“Hundreds of Guo’s on-line followers had been victimised in order that Guo may dwell a lifetime of extra,” Damian Williams, the US Lawyer in Manhattan, mentioned in a press release after the decision.
Guo’s defence legal professionals portrayed him as an ardent dissident who flaunted his wealth as a part of his political critique of the Chinese language Communist Get together (CCP), and mentioned that jurors shouldn’t rush to judgment as prosecutors had.
“Mr Guo did not care concerning the cash,” defence lawyer Sidhardha Kamaraju mentioned in his closing argument final week. “He cared concerning the motion.”
