Prosecutors say Guo began recruiting followers around 2018 through several means, including his own web network, GTV Media Group, which researchers say spread disinformation about the coronavirus and the 2020 election.
In an indictment filed in the Southern District of New York in March 2023, prosecutors said Guo “led a complex conspiracy” to raise funds to buy a yacht, luxury cars and a 50,000-square-foot mansion. After a trial that lasted about two months, Guo was found guilty of nine of the 12 charges.
US Attorney Damien Williams said in a statement on Tuesday that Guo deceived his followers to enrich his own “unbridled lifestyle”.
“Today, Mr. Guo’s scheme comes to an end,” Williams said.
Guo’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
The Washington Post previously reported that Guo made his fortune developing real estate in China before being charged with fraud and bribery. Prosecutors said he traveled to the United States in 2015 and bought a penthouse apartment in New York.
After moving to New York, Guo garnered a following online by posting videos and giving interviews in which he claimed to be “promoting a cause against the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the indictment.
His comments about China led Mr Guo to become close to Mr Bannon, who left the White House in 2017. The two men forged a working relationship that drew scrutiny from the Trump administration.
According to a report from the Washington Post, Bannon was arrested in August 2020 after he said he was raising funds for the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, and was indicted on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, but was living on Guo’s yacht at the time. Bannon, who is serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress, is scheduled to go on trial on a fraud case this year.
Before his arrest, Bannon served as chairman of GTV, Guo told The Washington Post in 2020.
Federal prosecutors said Guo used GTV, which was billed as a “broad-based media company,” to raise money from investors. Between April and June 2020, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of GTV stock was sold to more than 5,500 investors, prosecutors said.
Guo was arrested in New York on March 15, 2023.
Authorities charged Guo and his financiers with wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in a 12-count indictment. Prosecutors said they seized about $634 million from 21 bank accounts.
Guo’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 19. Williams said Guo could face decades in prison.
Josh Dawsey, Rosalind S. Helderman, Shayna Jacobs, Gerry Shih and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
