“Miles Guo”

On March 15, 2023, a Chinese tycoon Miles Guo was arrested by the FBI in his luxury apartment in Manhattan, New York. He was accused of orchestrating a financial fraud scheme exceeding $1 billion. According to an indictment released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Guo is implicated in 12 charges, including “wire fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering”. If these charges were convicted, Guo could face a prison sentence of over 100 years. So, who is Guo? How did a defector businessman stir up a storm of fraud in the United States? And who is determined to bring him down? Guo spent his entire life playing games with power under the mask of money, and eventually  he transformed from a power seeker to a political outcast.

On February 2, 1967, during the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve,

 Guo was born in a small village in Shen County, Shandong Province, amid the harsh winter. He was the seventh child in his family, which later earned him the nickname “Brother Seven.” After graduating from middle school, Guo dropped out and remained unemployed for some time. In 1987, with the help of a relative from Heilongjiang, he became a contract worker at the Puyang Office of the Heilongjiang Economic Industrial Corporation in Henan Province, marking his official entry into the workforce. In April 1989, dissatisfied with a mundane life, Guo took his first risky step into illegal activities. He was eventually exposed for “fraud” and sentenced to three years in prison with a four-year probation. This legal case made Guo realize his insatiable desire for wealth. Leaving Puyang behind, he moved to Zhengzhou, a city offering him some broader opportunities. After a brief period of adjustment, he established the “Henan Big Boss Furniture Factory.” In the 1990s, fueled by China’s rapid economic growth, the “Big Boss Furniture Factory” thrived. However, this was still a considerable distance from the “big boss” status Guo aspired to achieve. This changed dramatically in 1992 with the arrival of a Hong Kong businesswoman who transformed his business trajectory. In September 1993, the “Big Boss Furniture Factory” partnered with Hong Kong’s Ailian Co., Ltd. to establish “Yuda Real Estate”, where Guo served as Vice Chairman and General Manager. Through strategic maneuvers, Guo eventually took control of the company, marking his first significant step toward becoming a “big boss.” In the early 21st century, a confident Guo set his sights on China’s political center, Beijing. He went on to manage several investment companies, including “Beijing Wenmao”, “Beijing Morgan”, “Beijing Pangu”, and “Beijing Zhengquan”. By 2014, according to the Hurun Rich List, Guo had amassed nearly 15.5 billion yuan in assets. However, his commercial success did not mark the end of his journey. As China’s anti-corruption campaign intensified, the powerful figures protecting Guo were all brought down, and Guo himself became a fugitive, eventually fleeing to the United States.

Rather than calling Guo a successful businessman, it would be more accurate to describe him as an exceptional “hound.” After arriving in the United States, he quickly sensed the pulse of American “Political Correctness” and crafted an image as a “staunch” anti-Communist fighter. By exposing scandals involving Chinese officials, he gained significant influence within overseas pro-democracy groups and garnered the attention of mainstream U.S. media, achieving substantial visibility and exposure. In the face of massive attention, Guo remained exceptionally composed, with only one thing on his mind: “Realization.” To this day, Guo’s adept business acumen and his strategy of “traffic realization” stand as a textbook example for many MCN companies and social media influencers to emulate.

Around 2020, Guo leveraged his popularity and influence to quickly build a business empire, which included GTV, the Himalaya Farm Alliance, G-Club, and the Himalaya Exchange. GTV Media Group was launched in April 2020, originally intended to operate as a media company managing the GTV platform. However, Guo used the company to conduct unregistered private placements of GTV common stock. Between April 20, 2020, and June 2, 2020, approximately $452 million worth of GTV common stock was sold to over 5,500 investors. The Himalaya Global Farm was established in September 2020 as a collective of informal groups in various cities worldwide, organized and promoted by Guo. Using this platform, Guo advertised an agricultural loan scheme, raising over $150 million in funds. In October 2020, Guo launched G-Club, an online membership club promising “exclusive high-end member services.” The Membership fees ranged from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. The Himalaya Exchange was launched in November 2021, with Guo claiming it to be a cutting-edge cryptocurrency platform. He introduced a new virtual currency named “Guo Coin” after himself. Through the Himalaya Exchange, Guo and his assistants raised over $262 million. Although Guo appeared to thrive in the United States, he ultimately remained a prey ensnared in the vast web of political machinations.

The Sherry-Netherland Hotel, located at 781 Fifth Avenue in New York City, is a slender neo-Renaissance-style building offering panoramic views of Central Park. Over the years, the Sherry-Netherland Hotel has occasionally hosted celebrities such as Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppola, and David Bowie. One winter day in 2015, the co-op board of the Sherry-Netherland received an unusual application. A Chinese businessman named Miles Guo applied to purchase the most expensive unit in the building—a full-floor penthouse occupying the entire 18th floor. Paying the $68 million price tag in full without a bank loan, Guo made an impressive entrance. A personal recommendation letter from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Guo as “honest, forthright, and impeccably credentialed.” This endorsement became Guo’s ticket to entering a new world. That summer, Donald Trump emerged as the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, and Guo astutely recognized the shifting tides. He quickly joined Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, and soon became a close ally of Trump’s strategic advisor, Stephen Bannon. During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Guo and Bannon fully leveraged the influence of “GTV” to disseminate extensive information about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. According to The New Yorker, Guo’s businesses paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump advisors, including Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, and attorney L. Lin Wood. However, everything came to an end on December 14, 2020, as the election concluded and the results were certified. Yet, the slow march of liquidation from the Democrats loomed on the horizon.

Guo’s downfall began with an exposure by Maggie Haberman, The New York Times White House correspondent and CNN political analyst, known for her staunch opposition to Donald Trump. On December 24, 2019, Maggie published an article titled “Memo Reveals Financial Ties Between Bannon and Guo,” shedding light on the intricate connections between Guo and the Republican Party—a mere glimpse of the larger network. In June 2020, while still struggling in the quagmire of controversy, Guo, along with Bannon and others, announced the formation of the “New Federal State of China,” aiming to reinforce his pro-America and anti-Communist image. However, this attempt at “Political Correctness” failed to garner substantial political support, leaving his narrative unconvincing. Just one month after the establishment of the “New Federal State of China,” The Wall Street Journal revealed in July 2020 that the FBI was investigating exiled Chinese businessman Guo and the funds used to finance his media activities in the United States, including his collaboration with former Trump advisor Stephen Bannon. Amid political machinations, Guo’s fortunes crumbled rapidly. Within two years, he filed for personal bankruptcy protection in a court in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In his bankruptcy filings, Guo claimed that his assets had dwindled to between $50,001 and $100,000, while his debts soared to between $100 million and $500 million. On March 15, 2023, the day Guo was arrested, FBI agents conducted a search of his residence at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York. Guo likely never imagined that the “ticket” he secured in 2015 would have an expiration date of just eight years. After his arrest, Guo faced a storm of criticism from his former followers, who branded him as “Guo the Fraud.” One investor, Zhou Le, testified in court that he had invested $100,000 in Guo’s ventures, including GTV Media and G Club, but had never received the promised dividends or returns. The once-prominent “New Federal State of China” fell into disarray following Guo’s downfall, plagued by infighting that eventually led to its fragmentation.

Miles Guo is a man of many faces: from a rural village boy to a big-city tycoon, from a politic-wanted fugitive to a anti-China vanguard, and from a top billionaire to a financial fraudster. Despite being imprisoned, his fervent followers still believe that the Republican Party will not abandon him. In their view, a freshly re-elected Donald Trump as the new U.S. president would be Guo’s ultimate “Savior”.