Society · Crime Problem · June 30, 2026

A $1.3 Billion Scam, a $37 Million Yacht, and Two $36,000 Mattresses — and the Fans Who Still Cheered for Miles Guo.

On Monday, June 29, 2026, a Manhattan federal judge sentenced Ho Wan Kwok — known to his followers as Miles Guo, and in Chinese as Guo Wengui — to 30 years in prison for a fraud the government called “astounding”: more than $1 billion siphoned from hundreds of thousands of his own online supporters. The New York Post put the figure at a “stunning” $1.3 billion.

Guo, 57, spent a decade reinventing himself in New York as a fiery critic of the Chinese Communist Party. Prosecutors say the dissident pose was the bait. He used it to sell his followers stock in a media company, membership in an exclusive club, and a cryptocurrency he claimed was backed by gold — then spent their money on a $37 million yacht, a 50,000-square-foot New Jersey mansion, an apartment overlooking Central Park, a Ferrari, and, as the Post noted, two $36,000 mattresses.

And yet, the strangest fact of the day was in the gallery. Hundreds of Guo’s fans packed the courtroom and two overflow rooms; as he was led away to begin three decades behind bars, supporters applauded and shouted toward him. More than 600 of his victims, meanwhile, had written to the court to describe savings that simply vanished. This page lays out the scheme, the verdict, the sentence, and the cult-like loyalty that outlasted the fraud.

30 years — prison sentence handed down June 29, 2026 by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan (SDNY) · Source: CNN; NPR; Courthouse News
$1B+ raised, $1.3B alleged — taken from hundreds of thousands of online followers between 2018 and 2023; the NY Post pegged the scam at $1.3 billion · Source: DOJ-SDNY; New York Post
9 of 12 counts — a federal jury convicted Guo in July 2024 of racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering · Source: Courthouse News; DOJ-SDNY
$889 million — forfeiture / restitution Judge Torres ordered Guo to surrender; co-defendant Yvette Wang separately agreed to $1.4 billion · Source: CNN; DOJ-SDNY
600+ victim letters — victims who wrote to the court describing vanished savings; the judge said the fraud harmed more than 1,000 people worldwide · Source: New York Post; NPR
Hundreds of fans — supporters filled the courtroom and two overflow rooms and applauded as Guo was led away · Source: NPR; AP

§ 01 / The Sentence, and the Crowd That Cheered

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres delivered the sentence in a Manhattan courtroom packed with Guo’s supporters. She did not mince words. Guo, she said, “preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China,” taking their money so he could live lavishly. He “takes no responsibility for his actions,” Torres added, and “instead insists incredibly his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one” — even as he had “called upon supporters to harass and intimidate those who dare to speak out against him.”

The thirty-year term was paired with an order to forfeit roughly $889 million. Guo’s lawyers say he maintains his innocence and will appeal. Outside that legal posture, though, the scene was surreal: more than 250 supporters filled the gallery and two overflow rooms, and as Guo was taken away to begin his sentence, they applauded and called out to him. The same week, more than 600 of the people he defrauded had submitted letters describing the financial and emotional wreckage he left behind.

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§ 02 / How the Anti-CCP Hero Became a $1 Billion Fraud

Guo made his first fortune in Chinese real estate, then fled to the United States in 2015 and settled into a Manhattan penthouse. He rebuilt his public image as a self-styled billionaire dissident, broadcasting relentlessly against Beijing and cultivating ties with American right-wing figures — most famously Steve Bannon, who was arrested aboard Guo’s $37 million yacht, the Lady May, in 2020 on unrelated fraud charges. That dissident celebrity, prosecutors argued, was the engine of the con: it built him a devoted online following primed to send him money.

Cartoon satire: a slick showman at a livestream podium draped in anti-CCP banners hawks a giant gold-painted coin stamped 'H-COIN', while behind a curtain the 'gold reserve' vault is empty except for IOU notes — The pitch vs. the reality: Guo told followers H-Coin was 20% backed by gold and that he would personally cover any losses. Prosecutors say the gold backing was fiction and the exchange used staged transactions to fake liquidity. Source: SEC complaint; DOJ-SDNY.

Between 2018 and 2023, according to the Southern District of New York, Guo and his lieutenants raised more than $1 billion through a stack of interlocking ventures: stock in GTV Media Group; a members-only club, G|Clubs, with a minimum $10,000 buy-in; the “Himalaya Farm Alliance”; and the Himalaya Exchange and its cryptocurrency, H-Coin. He promised outsized returns and told followers, on livestreams, that he would personally reimburse any losses. The SEC says he falsely claimed 20 percent of H-Coin’s value was held in gold reserves and that the exchange staged transactions — including a show purchase of a Ferrari — to fake liquidity. The Himalaya Exchange alone pulled in roughly $262 million.

Mike Forsythe

@PekingMike · Jan. 7, 2025

Guo Wengui associate Yvette Wang (Wang Yanping) was sentenced to 10 years in prison today after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

§ 03 / Where the Money Went

The contrast between the pitch and the spending is what made the case so damning. Instead of gold reserves and legitimate business, prosecutors showed jurors a shopping list: the $37 million Lady May yacht, a 50,000-square-foot New Jersey mansion the Post valued at $26 million, a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and the now-infamous pair of $36,000 mattresses. The money his followers believed was building an anti-communist movement was, in the government’s telling, building Guo a billionaire’s lifestyle.

The federal jury saw through it. In July 2024, after a seven-week trial, it convicted Guo on nine of twelve counts, including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. The office of then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, had charged the scheme in 2023 as a “sprawling and pervasive” fraud conspiracy that bilked thousands of victims.

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“He preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China — and takes no responsibility for his actions, insisting his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one.”
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, at sentencing, June 29, 2026

§ 04 / The Co-Defendants — and the Loyalty That Lingers

Guo did not act alone. His chief of staff, Yanping “Yvette” Wang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, agreeing to $1.4 billion in restitution and forfeiture. A third defendant, financier Kin Ming Je — also known as William Je — was charged alongside Guo and has been treated by the government as a fugitive. The case is the kind of large-scale affinity fraud the FBI is still soliciting victim information on through a dedicated federal portal.

Cartoon satire: outside a federal courthouse, a crowd of devoted fans waves banners and cheers a handcuffed man being led to a prison van, while a separate line of weary victims clutches empty wallets and stacks of letters — The split screen of the sentencing: hundreds of supporters packed the courtroom and applauded as Guo was led away, while more than 600 victims wrote to the court about savings that vanished. Source: NPR; New York Post.

The enduring puzzle is the fan base. Affinity fraud works precisely because it fuses money with identity: Guo’s investors were not just buying H-Coin, they believed they were funding a cause and following a hero. That bond did not break with the verdict or the sentence. The applause as he left the courtroom is a case study in how a charismatic promoter, wrapped in a political mission, can keep the loyalty of the very people a federal jury found he robbed.

The Record, in Plain Terms

The crime — A federal jury convicted Ho Wan Kwok (Miles Guo / Guo Wengui) on nine of twelve counts in July 2024, including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, for raising $1 billion-plus from his followers via GTV Media, G|Clubs, and the Himalaya Exchange.

The sentence — 30 years in prison and roughly $889 million in forfeiture, imposed June 29, 2026 by Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York. Co-defendant Yvette Wang got 10 years; William Je remains a fugitive.

The standard — This is a resolved conviction and sentence, not an allegation. Guo’s lawyers say he will appeal; we will note the outcome if the conviction is disturbed.

§ 05 / The Bottom Line

Miles Guo turned a pro-democracy persona into one of the largest investor frauds ever prosecuted in Manhattan, and a federal judge sent him away for 30 years for it. The numbers are staggering — a billion-plus raised, $889 million forfeited, a $37 million yacht and $36,000 mattresses bought with other people’s savings — but the lasting image is the courtroom that cheered him on his way to prison while his victims counted their losses in letters to the judge. It is a reminder that the most effective fraud is rarely just about money; it is about belief. We will update this page as Guo’s appeal proceeds and as restitution to victims plays out.

Courthouse News Service

@CourthouseNews · June 29, 2026· paraphrase

Chinese dissident Miles Guo was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for a fraud that prosecutors said cost more than 1,000 victims hundreds of millions of dollars. Judge Analisa Torres ordered him to forfeit roughly $889 million.