Jury reaches verdict in exiled Chinese businessman Guo's US fraud trial
Prosecutors allege Guo raised over $1 billion through fraudulent investment schemes
Defense claims Guo's wealth display was part of his political critique of the CCP
Guo has been jailed since March 2023; could face decades in prison if convicted
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) -A U.S. jury on Tuesday reached a verdict in the racketeering and fraud trial of Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese businessman and outspoken opponent of Beijing's communist government who allegedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars from online followers.
The verdict was expected to be read shortly.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Guo raised more than $1 billion by guaranteeing followers on social media that they would not lose money if they joined him in a series of investment and cryptocurrency schemes from 2018 to 2023, some of which he said would go toward challenging China's government.
Prosecutors say the onetime real estate mogul spent the money on luxury goods including a New Jersey mansion, a red Lamborghini and a yacht.
Guo has pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal counts, including racketeering, in a trial that has lasted seven weeks.
His defense lawyers portrayed him as an ardent dissident who flaunted his wealth as part of his political critique of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and said that jurors should not rush to judgment as prosecutors had.
"Mr. Guo didn't care about the money," defense lawyer Sidhardha Kamaraju said in his closing argument on Thursday. "He cared about the movement."
After Kamaraju spoke, prosecutor Juliana Murray told jurors that he was right that Guo cared about the anti-CCP movement.
"And at least one of the reasons he loved it is because it was his personal piggybank," Murray said.
During an earlier closing argument on Wednesday, prosecutor Ryan Finkel played videos of Guo pitching investments, including several in which Guo wore sunglasses and stood on a yacht deck.
Earlier in the trial, jurors were allowed to hold keys to the Lamborghini that authorities found in a garage on Guo's Connecticut estate.
Kamaraju argued that the New Jersey mansion and Lamborghini were not Guo's personal property, but rather amenities available for the use of a luxury membership club for his followers.
Guo has been jailed since his March 2023 arrest. If he is convicted, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres could send him to prison for decades.
Finkel also showed jurors a video of Steve Bannon, a onetime adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, promoting one of Guo's ventures at a press conference in 2018.
Bannon was arrested in August 2020 on Guo's yacht, the Lady May, in an unrelated fraud case and was later pardoned by Trump.
Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis
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