Self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui convicted of defrauding followers after fleeing to US

A Chinese business tycoon who sought asylum in the U.S. has been convicted on charges that he engaged in a massive, multiyear fraud. Once believed to be among China's richest people, Guo Wengui left that country a decade ago and reinvented himself as a dissident and critic of the Communist Party. While living in self-imposed exile in New York he also developed a close relationship with conservative political strategist Steve Bannon. Guo was arrested in New York in 2023 and accused of deceiving thousands of people who put money into bogus investments. Guo’s lawyers said prosecutors hadn’t proven he’d cheated anyone. He did not testify at the two-month trial.