A self-exiled Chinese language businessman charged in a $1 billion fraud case will stay behind bars after a federal decide rejected a proposed $25 million bail package deal Thursday, saying there was clear and convincing proof he would stay an financial risk and a flight threat if he had been freed.
Choose Analisa Torres stated in a written order that she didn’t belief that Guo Wengui would obey courtroom orders if launched, even with strict bail situations together with GPS monitoring and a 24-hour guard. She famous that he faces a most sentence of over 100 years in jail if convicted.
She stated Guo has continued to advertise fraudulent funding alternatives even after funds had been seized from his companies final yr.
Guo, 54, was arrested final month on costs together with wire and securities fraud. Prosecutors stated he fleeced hundreds of traders in too-good-to-be-true choices that promised outsize income for traders in his media firm, GTV Media Group Inc., his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance, G’CLUBS and the Himalaya Trade.
He has pleaded not responsible.
Since September the U.S. authorities has seized roughly $634 million from 21 financial institution accounts related to Guo, who’s referred to in courtroom paperwork by the identify Ho Wan Kwok.
Guo has claimed he has solely $10,000 in noncash property, although prosecutors say he has management of a 50,000-square-foot mansion, a $3.5 million Ferrari, two $36,000 mattresses and a $37 million luxurious yacht.
It was on Guo’s yacht that Steve Bannon, the previous chief White Home strategist underneath ex-President Donald Trump, was arrested in a prison fraud case a number of years in the past. Trump pardoned Bannon simply earlier than he left workplace in 2021.
Choose Torres famous in her order Thursday that Guo was accused of utilizing proceeds from a five-year fraud scheme from 2018 by way of this March to purchase extravagant items and property for himself and his household.
Torres stated Guo gathered a big on-line following in 2017 with claims in opposition to the Chinese language Communist Celebration earlier than founding a nonprofit a yr later that drew much more followers. She cited proof that he subsequently marketed fraudulent funding actions to his followers.
Guo was as soon as considered among the many richest individuals in China earlier than he left that nation in 2014 throughout a crackdown on corruption that ensnared people near him, together with a high intelligence official. Chinese language authorities have accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and different offenses.
Guo has stated these allegations are false and meant to punish him for publicly outing corruption in China and criticizing main figures within the Communist Celebration.
Legal professionals for Guo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday. A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to remark.
