A self-exiled Chinese billionaire, Guo Wengui, once considered among China's wealthiest individuals, was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in a U.S. prison. The severe penalty comes after his conviction for a massive financial fraud scheme that a federal judge confirmed cost over 1,000 people worldwide hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a Manhattan courtroom packed with his supporters, Judge Analisa Torres delivered the sentence, asserting that Guo "preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China," exploiting their aspirations to fund his opulent lifestyle. Guo, who fled China a decade ago, had reinvented himself as a prominent U.S.-based critic of the Communist Party.
