In April, the exiled Chinese millionaire Guo Wengui will be tried by U.S. authorities for a $1 billion fraud.
Analisa Torres, U.S. district judge in New York City, set the trial date during a hearing on Tuesday. Guo was also allowed to use a computer provided by the government to review evidence.
Guo was arrested by federal authorities in March after he allegedly defrauded over $1 billion from thousands of his online followers. According to prosecutors who claim that the scheme ran from 2018 to March, Guo promised “outsized returns” to his followers, but used the money instead to fund his extravagant lifestyle.
According to prosecutors, the U.S. Government seized $634,000,000 in alleged fraud proceeds on 21 bank accounts. Prosecutors said that law enforcement seized assets bought with profits from the alleged fraud. This included a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ roads.
Guo, 52 has been living in the U.S. around 2015, and has a “substantial following” online, according to prosecutors.
He’s also a business partner of Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon. Bannon was detained on his yacht in August 2020 for a fraud. Bannon was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021.
Guo has pleaded no contest to 11 charges, including money laundering, wire fraud, securities fraud and bank fraud.
Stephen Cook, Guo’s attorney, did not respond immediately to a comment request Wednesday.
Since his arrest, Guo has been in jail. Cook, in an attempt to secure bail, said that Guo will remain in the United States if he is released because “the risks to his life are simply too great to leave.”
Cook stated in court documents Guo was not a flight threat because his 38-year-old wife and daughter lived in the U.S.
Court documents indicate that in April, Torres refused Guo’s $25 million bail package and said he should remain behind bars pending trial as he has “the means and the know-how” to escape.
Torres stated that even though Guo’s passports were confiscated, as well as copies of one passport, a “clever criminal with enough resources” could find a way to escape the country without travel documentation.
She called Guo’s bail proposal “insufficient”, adding that Guo had filed for bankruptcy and claimed only $10,000 worth of assets. Torres claimed that Guo failed to identify a cosigner who was financially stable and had ties with the U.S.
Guo appealed last month the order of the judge.
