A US federal court has sentenced exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui to 30 years in prison, after he was convicted of defrauding thousands of people out of more than $1bn.
In July 2024, a jury unanimously found Guo, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, guilty on nine of 12 charges, including securities offences, wire fraud and money laundering. The FBI arrested Guo, who is in his fifties, in March 2023 at his luxury Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park.
At his sentencing hearing in New York on Monday, judge Analisa Torres said Guo had “dedicated himself to increasing his own wealth” as he “preyed” on people hoping for a democratic China.
Torres imposed a forfeiture order on Guo of $889m, as she condemned his “exploitation of a philanthropic purpose, his history of intimidation of critics and his refusal to accept responsibility”. The Chinese businessman has maintained his…
Cyber fraud uses technology as the primary weapon. It is highly scalable and can be conducted from anywhere in the world.
- Phishing/Smishing/Vishing: Using deceptive emails (phishing), text messages (smishing), or phone calls (vishing) to trick victims into clicking malicious links or revealing sensitive data.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): A high-value scam where a criminal impersonates a CEO or high-level executive via a “spoofed” email address to trick a staff member into making an urgent, unauthorized wire transfer.