Self-exiled Chinese billionaire Miles Guo has been sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. prison and ordered to forfeit $889 million in restitution after his fraud conviction. According to reports from multiple media outlets, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres handed down the sentence on June 29, 2026, following a July 2024 jury verdict that found Guo guilty on nine fraud and conspiracy charges. The sentencing comes as crypto-related financial crime continues to face tighter enforcement in both the United States and China. The fraud scheme ran from 2018 to March 2023, targeting mostly Chinese dissidents and followers of Guo's political media empire. At sentencing, Guo told the court his reason for coming to the US was "to destroy the CCP." Judge Torres was not persuaded, stating Guo had "preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China."
Federal prosecutors alleged that Guo, also known as Guo Wengui, attracted investors by presenting himself as a critic of the Chinese Communist Party after fleeing China more than a decade ago. As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, the scheme involved three main vehicles to investors: GTV Media Group, a luxury membership program called G|CLUBS, and the Himalaya Exchange, a cryptocurrency platform that collected more than $262 million from victims through a token called H-Coin (also known as Himalaya Coin or HCN). The department stated that Guo later spent investor funds on luxury assets, including a $37 million yacht, a $26 million mansion in New Jersey, and a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park. The Himalaya Exchange launched around 2021, pushing two tokens: Himalaya Coin (HCN) and Himalaya Dollar (HDO). According to the Associated Press, the platform told followers their money was backed by gold and framed the project as a tool against the Chinese Communist Party, raising close to $262 million on that pitch. However, the exchange ran as a closed system with little real on-chain presence, and its price moves looked artificially pumped rather than market-driven. Former CEO Jesse Brown testified that the company lacked real control or employees, and that H-Coin never had true cryptocurrency functionality behind it.
The Himalaya Exchange launched around 2021, pushing two tokens: Himalaya Coin (HCN) and Himalaya Dollar (HDO). According to the Associated Press, the platform told followers their money was backed by gold and framed the project as a tool against the Chinese Communist Party, raising close to $262 million on that pitch. However, the exchange ran as a closed system with little real on-chain presence, and its price moves looked artificially pumped rather than market-driven. Former CEO Jesse Brown testified that the company lacked real control or employees, and that H-Coin never had true cryptocurrency functionality behind it. Guo claimed H-Coin was 20% backed by gold and promised to fully compensate any losses. The DOJ stated that Guo "lied to his victims and promised them outsized returns" through entities including GTV Media, the Himalaya Farm Alliance, and G|CLUBS, each functioning as a funnel before or alongside the crypto pitches. Several countries issued regulatory warnings about Himalaya Exchange before Guo's conviction, and customer funds tied to the platform were frozen or seized. Today the exchange still has a website and social media presence, but it is widely treated as defunct, with affected users now pursuing legal routes to recover what they put in.
Separate from the criminal prosecution, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Guo and his financial adviser, William Je, in March 2023** over an alleged fraud that raised hundreds of millions of dollars through an unregistered crypto asset known as H Coin, or Himalaya Coin. According to the SEC complaint, Guo falsely claimed the token was backed by gold and assured investors they would be reimbursed for any losses. The regulator also accused Guo and Je of diverting investor funds to finance luxury purchases, including a mansion and a Ferrari, while seeking permanent injunctions, civil penalties and the recovery of alleged illegal gains. A 2020 stock offering through GTV raised $452 million, bringing the total from just two schemes to over $700 million. The SEC had already flagged Guo's operation, with a civil action related to the illegal GTV stock and digital asset offerings ending in a settlement exceeding $539 million in 2021. The case extended beyond Guo himself, as his former chief of staff was separately sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same $1 billion fraud, underscoring that the scheme required a functioning support network, not just a single operator.
The SEC and DOJ announced their actions on the same day in March 2023, with the Justice Department filing a 12-count indictment that included securities fraud, wire fraud, investment fraud and money laundering charges against Guo. William Je was also charged with obstruction of justice, while authorities said they seized about $634 million held across 21 bank accounts linked to the investigation. Guo is also known for his association with former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon, with whom he announced the New Federal State of China initiative in 2020. Co-defendant Kin Ming Je faced related charges in the same case, while associate Yvette Wang received a separate 10-year sentence in January 2025. Asset recovery efforts are ongoing, with the Central Park apartment reportedly being sold as part of efforts to return funds to defrauded investors. The case represents one of the largest affinity fraud cases in recent US history, highlighting the Trump administration's push to punish high-profile crypto scammers.
This case fits a pattern of cryptocurrency fraud that has emerged in recent years. Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, was convicted in 2023 of fraud and money laundering for misusing billions in customer funds, and received a 25-year sentence in 2024 for one of the largest exchange collapses on record. Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius, pleaded guilty in 2025 to fraud and market manipulation charges after misleading investors on a multi-billion dollar lending platform that filed for bankruptcy back in 2022. Anatoly Legkodymov, the Russian founder of Bitzlato, was arrested in Miami in 2023 for processing more than $700 million in illicit funds through an exchange with weak anti-money-laundering controls. Each case shares a common thread with the cryptocurrency fraud sentence: bold promises of innovation covering up weak or absent operations underneath, with customer money treated as the founder's own. The Guo Wengui crypto fraud sentence adds to growing scrutiny on celebrity-driven crypto schemes that lean on political or ideological appeal to attract retail investors. The Department of Justice and SEC pursued charges around unregistered securities offerings and wire fraud despite offshore elements in the case, backing it up with asset seizures. For retail investors, the practical warning is straightforward: community affiliation and political charisma are not substitutes for audited financials, transparent token mechanics, or regulated custody. When a platform's primary pitch is ideological rather than structural, that is the first red flag worth taking seriously.
