Miles Guo (Guo Wengui), an exiled Chinese businessman, scammed his supporters out of billions of dollars through his company, GTV Media Group.
The US Department of Justice revealed Tuesday that he ran multiple fraudulent schemes, enabling him to reside in a 50,000-square-foot mansion, purchase a $37 million yacht, and own a $1 million Lamborghini. His victims comprise numerous online followers.
On July 16, a jury unanimously found him guilty of racketeering, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. He is facing decades in prison and possible lifelong confinement. There is a chance he may be extradited to China, where he faces allegations of rape, kidnapping, and bribery. Additionally, the DoJ confiscated stolen funds totaling hundreds of millions.
The fraudulent crypto venture
In a separate case, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Guo with defrauding retail investors of $500 million in a scheme involving the crypto venture H-Coin, which he lied was backed by gold.
H-Coin was listed on a single platform – the so-called Himalaya Exchange. In testimony, Jesse Brown, the former CEO of this exchange, said H-Coin was never a crypto product because customers couldn’t buy it, and it wasn’t on any blockchain network.
The Trump connection
GTV originated as a platform for sharing videos, and it was established by Guo and Steve Bannon, the former advisor to Donald Trump and a prominent figure in Make America Great Again (MAGA) media. Brown initially joined GTV as an employee. Over time, he also participated in H-Coin, the fashion brand G Fashion, G Clubs, and various other projects led by Guo.
Brown testified he was tasked with founding the Himalaya Exchange, where H-Coin would be exclusively traded. He insists he controlled nothing and was only a “small player in the Guo ecosystem.” Despite serving as the exchange’s CEO, he had no employees.
H-Coin was launched in 2021, but it was not available for sale. Brown said the Himalaya coin gave holders exclusive deals within the GTV ecosystem then.
However, Brown quit as CEO of Himalaya Exchange in 2023. He has testified that he didn’t say the product had no gold backing because he didn’t want to negatively impact its value.
