郭文贵刑事案 · TRANSCRIPT · ECF #864

Q6T1GUOS

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 2 ------------------------------x

3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

4 v. 23 Cr. 118 (AT)

5 MILES GUO,

6 Defendant. Sentencing ------------------------------x 7 New York, N.Y. June 29, 2026 8 11:05 a.m.

9 Before:

10 HON. ANALISA TORRES,

11 District Judge

12 APPEARANCES

13 JAY CLAYTON United States Attorney for the 14 Southern District of New York BY: RYAN B. FINKEL, ESQ. 15 MICAH F. FERGENSON, ESQ. JULIANA N. MURRAY, ESQ. 16 JUSTIN HORTON, ESQ. Assistant United States Attorneys 17 SARAFA ZELLAN PLLC 18 Attorneys for Defendant BY: MELINDA M. SARAFA, ESQ. 19 LAW OFFICES OF JOSHUA L. DRATEL, P.C. 20 Attorneys for Defendant BY: JOSHUA L. DRATEL, ESQ. 21 DOAR RIECK KALEY & MACK 22 Attorneys for Defendant BY: JOHN F. KALEY, ESQ. 23 ALSO PRESENT: DAVID NAGUIB, Paralegal Specialist, USAO 24 STEPHANIE LIU, Interpreter (Mandarin) I CHING NG, Interpreter (Mandarin) 25

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300

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1 THE COURT: Good morning. We're here in the matter of

2 United States v. Guo.

3 Counsel, please make your appearances.

4 MR. FINKEL: Good morning, your Honor. Ryan Finkel,

5 Juliana Murray, Micah Ferguson, Justin Horton, and David

6 Naguib, who is a paralegal in our office.

7 MS. SARAFA: Good morning, your Honor. Melinda

8 Sarafa, John Kaley, and Joshua Dratel for Miles Guo, who is not

9 present.

10 THE COURT: Please be seated.

11 I'm informed by the Marshals Service that Mr. Guo is

12 delayed by a couple of hours, and so he will be joining us at

13 about 1 p.m., and so we will adjourn until that time.

14 (Recess)

15 (Pages 3-30 SEALED by order of the Court)

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1 (4:01 p.m.)

2 THE COURT: Good afternoon. This matter is on for

3 sentencing in United States v. Miles Guo.

4 Would you make your appearances, please.

5 MR. FINKEL: Yes, your Honor. Ryan Finkel, Juliana

6 Murray, Micah Fergenson, and Justin Horton for the United

7 States. We're joined at counsel table by David Naguib, who is

8 a paralegal in our office.

9 MS. SARAFA: Good afternoon, your Honor. Melinda

10 Sarafa, John Kaley, Joshua Dratel for Miles Guo, who is also

11 present at counsel table.

12 THE COURT: Please be seated.

13 I'm now addressing this question to the defense. Who

14 is going to be speaking for Mr. Guo at this time?

15 MS. SARAFA: Your Honor, we have divided up

16 responsibilities, so different attorneys will speak to

17 different portions of the proceedings. Mr. Dratel will be

18 addressing the presentence report. I will be addressing the

19 Court with respect to Mr. Guo and our sentencing presentation.

20 THE COURT: Mr. Dratel, have you read the presentence

21 report?

22 MR. DRATEL: Yes, your Honor.

23 THE COURT: And did you discuss it with Mr. Guo?

24 MR. DRATEL: Yes.

25 THE COURT: Was it translated for him?

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1 MR. DRATEL: Yes.

2 THE COURT: Mr. Guo, your lawyer has said that he has

3 read the presentence report and that the report was translated

4 for you. Did you read the presentence report?

5 THE DEFENDANT: (In English) Yes, your Honor.

6 THE COURT: Did you discuss it with your attorney?

7 THE DEFENDANT: (Through the interpreter) Yes.

8 THE COURT: Has the government reviewed the

9 presentence report?

10 MR. FINKEL: Yes, your Honor.

11 THE COURT: Mr. Guo has raised numerous factual

12 objections to the report.

13 "Fact-finding at sentencing is made by a preponderance

14 of the evidence." See United States v. Bellomo, 176 F.3d 580,

15 595 (2d Cir. 1999).

16 Mr. Guo requests an evidentiary hearing, or Fatico

17 hearing, to resolve his factual disputes with the report,

18 particularly with respect to the calculation of the loss

19 amount.

20 A Fatico hearing is a presentence evidentiary hearing

21 during which the parties are permitted to present evidence and

22 arguments on disputed factual matters relevant to sentencing.

23 See United States v. Fatico, 603 F.2d 1053 (2d Cir. 1979).

24 A "district court is not required, by either the Due

25 Process Clause or the federal Sentencing Guidelines, to hold a

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1 full-blown evidentiary hearing in resolving sentencing

2 disputes." United States v. Phillips, 431 F.3d 86, 93 (2d Cir.

3 2005); and United States v. Litwock, 611 Fed. App'x 12, 16 (2d

4 Cir. 2015). All that is required is that the defendant have

5 "some opportunity to rebut the Government's allegations."

6 United States v. Slevin, 106 F.3d 1086, 1091 (2d Cir. 1996).

7 I have closely reviewed Mr. Guo's sentencing

8 submissions, which articulate his objections to the presentence

9 report. I have also carefully reviewed the substantial record

10 in this case, including the evidence presented at the two-month

11 trial. Having done so, I conclude that I am able to make the

12 factual determinations necessary for sentencing without an

13 evidentiary hearing.

14 I will begin by addressing Mr. Guo's factual disputes

15 unrelated to the loss amount.

16 First, based on my review of the over 230 victim

17 statements submitted by the government, and the trial

18 testimony, Mr. Guo's objection that there are no victims is

19 overruled.

20 Second, I reject Mr. Guo's claim that he did not

21 purport to act on behalf of a "charitable, educational,

22 religious, or political organization or government agency" in

23 connection with his crimes.

24 For example, Mr. Guo founded the Rule of Law Society

25 and told people he would use the money to help the Chinese

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1 people. One victim, Jenny Li, testified at trial that she took

2 out a second mortgage on her home to finance Mr. Guo's

3 investments, which started with a $6,000 donation to the Rule

4 of Law Society, made after trusting Mr. Guo's unfulfilled

5 promise that he would donate a hundred million dollars of his

6 own money to the Society first. (See, for example, Trial

7 Transcript pages 1170 to 1180, and 1211 to 1213.)

8 At trial, the Society's former president and

9 treasurer, Karin Maistrello, testified that despite receiving

10 tens of millions of dollars in donations, the organization did

11 "nothing" to help the Chinese people. (See Trial Transcript

12 pages 423 to 424, 471, and 3317 to 3320; and Government Exhibit

13 WA30, Summary of Donations for 2019-2023.)

14 Trial testimony from witnesses Le Zhou, a victim, and

15 Ya Li, one of Mr. Guo's close associates, also shows that

16 Mr. Guo acted on behalf of a political organization——the "New

17 Federal State of China"——by, for example, raising funds through

18 the Farm Loans Program. (See, for example, Trial Transcript

19 pages 221 to 227 and 1376 to 1377.)

20 Third, I overrule Mr. Guo's objection that his

21 fraudulent schemes and money laundering did not involve

22 "fictitious entities" or "shell corporations."

23 At sentencing for Mr. Guo's co-conspirator, Yvette

24 Wang, I found, based on the evidence at Mr. Guo's trial, that

25 the two "created shell companies" as part of their schemes.

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1 (See Wang Sentencing Transcript, page 56, lines 6-7, filed at

2 ECF No. 491.) I reaffirm that finding today.

3 Fourth, Mr. Guo states that he did not derive more

4 than a million dollars in gross receipts from at least one

5 financial institution. This objection is overruled. I

6 conclude that Mr. Guo "must have profited at least $1 million"

7 from the offense conduct. United States v. Constantinescu, 147

8 F.4th 299, 316 (2d Cir. 25). For example, I find that Mr. Guo

9 and his co-conspirators used G|Club funds that pay personal

10 expenses for Mr. Guo and his family, including the purchase of

11 a multimillion-dollar luxury yacht and mansion. (See, for

12 example, Trial Transcript pages 1957 to 1959, 3064 to 3065, and

13 3701 to 3703.)

14 Fifth, I overrule Mr. Guo's claim that he did not play

15 an organizing or leadership role in the crimes of conviction.

16 Witnesses testified that Mr. Guo was the "top boss," that he

17 was the spokesperson for the various G entities, and that he

18 would have the final say. (See, for example, Trial Transcript

19 pages 421, 1376, 1941, 1995 to 1996, 2978, 2980, and 3162.)

20 Indeed, the jury convicted Mr. Guo of Count One, which

21 alleged that he was the leader of, and directed, the G

22 Enterprise.

23 Sixth, I find that it is more likely than not that

24 Mr. Guo willfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to

25 obstruct or impede justice, in connection with the

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1 investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of this case:

2 As one example, trial testimony shows that Mr. Guo was

3 involved in creating a "blacklist" of former supporters who

4 criticized him, and Mr. Guo then shared their personally

5 identifiable information online. (See, for example, Trial

6 Transcript pages 274 to 276 and 1487 to 1491.) Multiple victim

7 statements refer to the online harassment and intimidation

8 people have experienced for speaking out against Mr. Guo.

9 (See, for example, Statements 3, 4, 106, 113, 175, 190B, 209.)

10 In addition, Mr. Guo——as evidenced by photos retrieved

11 from one of his cellphones and by testimony at trial about

12 statements made during his broadcasts——contributed to and

13 enabled the harassment of the Trustee of his bankruptcy estate.

14 That harassment included protests outside of the Trustee's home

15 and the school where his daughter worked, with graphic signs

16 echoing Mr. Guo's statements on his broadcasts that the Trustee

17 was a "CCP running dog." (See, for example, Trial Transcript

18 pages 252 to 259, 4091, and 4214 to 4218; and Government

19 Exhibits VI 194 and 1B124F.) Mr. Guo even instructed witnesses

20 to throw out subpoenas from the Trustee. (See Trial Transcript

21 pages 1498 to 1499.)

22 I, therefore, overrule Mr. Guo's objection.

23 I now address the factual dispute related to the loss

24 amount.

25 The presentence report found a loss amount of more

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1 than $550 million. Mr. Guo argues that there is no loss

2 amount.

3 I will make a few important observations before I

4 proceed with my factual findings.

5 First, based on the top bracket of the guidelines loss

6 table, I only need to find that the loss amount exceeds

7 $550 million to apply the guidelines enhancement calculated by

8 probation. (See U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(1)(P).)

9 Second, assuming all other enhancements apply, because

10 the total offense level I will calculate greatly exceeds the

11 highest total offense level under the guidelines, a loss

12 calculation of only $3.5 million would result in the same

13 applicable guidelines range. (See U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(1)(J).)

14 Third, I share several concerns expressed by some of

15 my colleagues that the guidelines place undue weight on the

16 amount of loss involved in the fraud. See, for example, United

17 States v. Emmenegger, 329 F.Supp.2d 416, 427-28 (S.D.N.Y.

18 2004); United States v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, 22 Civ. 673,

19 Sentencing Transcript pages 6 to 7.

20 Finally, although factual findings relating to loss

21 must be established by a preponderance of the evidence, the

22 Second Circuit has said that the Court "need not establish loss

23 with precision but rather 'need only make a reasonable estimate

24 of the loss, given the available information.'" United States

25 v. Uddin, 551 F.3d 176, 180 (2d Cir. 2009).

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1 Guidelines Section 2B1.1(b)(1) defines "loss" as the

2 greater of "actual loss" and "intended loss." "Actual loss" is

3 defined as the "reasonably foreseeable pecuniary harm that

4 resulted from the offenses." "Intended loss" is defined as the

5 "pecuniary harm that the defendant purposely sought to

6 inflict." "Reasonably foreseeable harm" is harm "the defendant

7 knew or, under the circumstances, reasonably should have known,

8 was a potential result of the offense."

9 At trial, government expert Paul Hinton estimated that

10 $1.3 billion in individual donations flowed into bank accounts

11 associated with the racketeering enterprise, which the jury's

12 verdict on Count One demonstrates was the result of fraud.

13 See, for example, Trial Transcript pages 4430 to 4332; and

14 Government Exhibit Z26.

15 Mr. Guo disputes the government's loss estimate on

16 several grounds. He states that "inflows to the G-Series

17 entities" do not establish loss because this methodology

18 improperly includes acquitted conduct, fails to account for

19 redemptions, refunds, or double counting, and "erroneously

20 includes funds from individuals who deny they were defrauded."

21 There is no evidence that investors received anything

22 of value before the fraud was uncovered. The inflows into the

23 various G Enterprise entities are, therefore, a reasonable

24 estimate of the loss amount. See, for example, United States

25 v. Stitsky, 536 Fed. App'x 98, 110-112 (2d Cir. 2013).

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1 Even if I exclude the $411 million in GTV proceeds

2 from the $1.3 billion figure, which Mr. Guo claims derives from

3 acquitted conduct, the loss estimate would still far exceed

4 $550 million. See Government Exhibit Z26, page 35; see also

5 Affidavit of FBI Special Agent Anthony Alecci, ¶ 18(c), filed

6 at ECF No. 716-2.

7 I note that this exclusion is conservative because GTV

8 inflows are part of the racketeering conspiracy crime of

9 conviction. For example, one witness, Le Zhou, testified that

10 to join G|Club, individuals were first required to purchase GTV

11 stock. See Trial Transcript page 232, and pages 1376 and 4478.

12 In other words, inflows to GTV are connected to the

13 racketeering enterprise as a whole and to other fraudulent

14 schemes.

15 Next, I reject Mr. Guo's claim that the loss amount

16 should be reduced by "returns" or various "credits" he claims

17 are applicable.

18 As an initial matter, the Second Circuit has held that

19 "loss in fraud cases includes the amount of property taken,

20 even if all or part has been returned." United States v.

21 Coriaty, 300 F.3d 244, 251 (2d Cir. 2002).

22 Further, based on testimony at trial, and the parties'

23 submissions, I do not find that Mr. Guo's victims received

24 anything of value—–or that Mr. Guo intended to give them

25 something of value—–that would justify discounting the loss

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1 amount. See, for example, testimony of Le Zhou on Trial

2 Transcript pages 409 to 410, testimony of Jenny Li on

3 pages 1211 to 1213, and testimony of Ya Li on pages 1386 to

4 1387.

5 Nor is there evidence that Mr. Guo returned the

6 victims' money before the offense was detected, or that he

7 pledged collateral to the victims. See U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 cmt.

8 3(D)(i) and (ii).

9 Witness testimony from victims Le Zhou and Wei Chen,

10 and written victim statements, show that individuals sought

11 refund but did not receive them, even when Mr. Guo promised

12 they could withdraw their funds at any time. See, for example,

13 Trial Transcript pages 270 to 272, 4504 to 4505; and Victim

14 Statements 168 and 221.

15 As to potential double counting, Mr. Guo presents only

16 an unsubstantiated statement that G|Club "accepted" Himalaya

17 Exchange funds as "payment methods for G Club membership." He

18 does not offer any evidence establishing this fact, nor does he

19 estimate the percentage of G|Club's inflows potentially

20 attributable to payments made to the Himalaya Exchange.

21 Further, even if I were to entirely exclude the

22 inflows into G|CLUBS due to double counting concerns, inflows

23 into the Farm Loan Program and the Himalaya Exchange alone

24 exceed $550 million and justify my loss calculation.

25 Finally, I do not consider whether a person

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1 subjectively regards him- or herself as a "victim" in

2 determining "loss."

3 A person's subjective opinion of their victim status

4 does not determine whether Mr. Guo's schemes were fraudulent,

5 and therefore, their subjective opinion does not impact either

6 the "actual loss" or "intended loss" calculation.

7 I find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that

8 Mr. Guo intended to deceive his victims and take their money

9 for personal gain, rather than his promised initiatives, and

10 that it was reasonably foreseeable that his victims would make

11 the payments they made. Therefore, both the actual loss and

12 the intended loss exceed $550 million.

13 In sum, I reject Mr. Guo's objections and hold that

14 the government's inflow methodology serves as a "reasonable

15 estimate" of the loss attributable to his crimes. Based on the

16 government's estimates of inflows into the various G Enterprise

17 entities, I find, by a preponderance of the evidence, a loss

18 amount of at least $550 million.

19 Mr. Guo's sentencing submission raises over 50

20 additional objections to various paragraphs of the presentence

21 report. I have carefully reviewed each of these objections and

22 find that they either rehash the same objections already

23 overruled, contradict the jury's verdict, or do not ultimately

24 influence my sentence.

25 Are there any objections to the presentence report

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1 regarding factual accuracy, that the defense has not already

2 articulated?

3 MR. DRATEL: Your Honor, just——and we do obviously

4 reassert those that we did in writing, but we just wanted to

5 add, based on two subsequent developments.

6 One is the Court's denial of the Fatico hearing, which

7 is Docket No. 855, and the order earlier today approving an

8 order of forfeiture, that's 858, and we think that reinforces

9 two factors. One is that a loss amount cannot be determined

10 based on the current record; and second is that a Fatico

11 hearing is required. And the reason is, as the Court is not

12 deciding at this time the validity of 853(n) petitions, and we

13 believe——and I know the Court feels differently, but we believe

14 that if someone is not defrauded, it is not part of the corpus

15 of the crime; therefore, it cannot be part of a loss figure.

16 So we have more than a hundred million dollars from——that's

17 just two sets of investors, who represent about 7,000

18 investors——who have taken the position there was no fraud;

19 their money is not part of a fraud. That would reduce the loss

20 figure in that regard. And with respect to some of the offsets

21 and the other parts, the trial transcript, the way the Court

22 charged the jury, which is the statute, which is that it

23 doesn't matter whether he had a gain at all, whether he made a

24 dime. So the jury's verdict doesn't establish anything with

25 respect to loss amount. And the trial testimony, by our

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1 analysis, would limit that loss amount to less than

2 $1.5 million. And the fact that also the government says, and

3 the Court agrees in the forfeiture order today, that this case

4 is too complicated for restitution, only again reinforces that

5 a loss amount cannot be established on the current record and

6 without a Fatico hearing.

7 And we also think that it should be at a higher burden

8 of proof for the reasons we set forth in our papers.

9 Thank you, your Honor.

10 THE COURT: The government has no objections to the

11 factual findings in the presentence report, correct?

12 MR. FINKEL: That's correct, your Honor.

13 THE COURT: There being no further objections, I adopt

14 the factual recitations in the report. And it shall be made a

15 part of the record and placed under seal. If an appeal is

16 taken, counsel on appeal may have access to the sealed report

17 without further application to the Court.

18 Although courts are no longer required to follow the

19 sentencing guidelines, we are still required to consider the

20 applicable guidelines in imposing sentence, and to do so, it is

21 necessary that we accurately calculate the sentencing range.

22 Following a two-month jury trial——

23 MR. DRATEL: Your Honor, I'm sorry. I apologize. I

24 missed one that I think the Court may not have discussed in its

25 digest of the objections, and that's with respect to

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1 paragraph 116, the 2S1.1(b)(2)(B) guidelines section that

2 applies to the offense involving sophisticated money

3 laundering, and we specifically objected to that. So I don't

4 know if the Court covered that in its review.

5 THE COURT: Yes. I will be addressing that later on.

6 MR. DRATEL: Oh, okay. Thank you, your Honor.

7 THE COURT: Yes.

8 As I was saying, after a two-month jury trial, the

9 defendant was convicted of nine of twelve counts of the third

10 superseding indictment:

11 Count One: Racketeering Conspiracy;

12 Count Two: Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud or Bank

13 Fraud;

14 Count Three: Money Laundering Conspiracy;

15 Count Four: Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud;

16 Count Seven: Wire Fraud, in connection with the Farm

17 Loan Program;

18 Count Eight: Securities Fraud, in connection with the

19 Farm Loan Program;

20 Count Nine: Wire Fraud, in connection with G|CLUBS;

21 Count Ten: Securities Fraud, in connection with

22 G|CLUBS; and

23 Count Eleven: Wire Fraud, in connection with the

24 Himalaya Exchange.

25 The jury acquitted Mr. Guo of three counts:

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1 Count Five: Wire Fraud, in connection with GTV

2 Private Placement;

3 Count Six: Securities Fraud, in connection with GTV

4 Private Placement; and

5 Count Twelve: Unlawful Monetary Transaction.

6 The presentence report calculates a total offense

7 level of 55, and in accordance with guidelines Chapter 5

8 Part A, Application Note 2, because the offense level is more

9 than 43, the report treats the total offense level as 43. The

10 report calculates a criminal history category of I, resulting

11 in a guidelines sentence of life imprisonment. However, in

12 accordance with guidelines section 5G1.2(b), the guidelines

13 sentence applicable here is constrained by the maximum

14 statutorily authorized length of imprisonment, which the report

15 calculates as 2100 months, or 175 years. The report calculates

16 a fine range of $50,000 to $5 million.

17 The government calculates the same guidelines range.

18 Mr. Guo disputes the presentence report's guidelines

19 analysis. I now address each of his objections:

20 First, as discussed earlier in this proceeding,

21 Mr. Guo contends that there is no loss amount. For the reasons

22 I have already stated, I find sufficient support in the record

23 that the loss amount exceeds $550 million and apply the

24 30-level enhancement under guidelines Section 2B1.1(b)(1)(P).

25 Second, Mr. Guo contends the government has not shown

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1 that there are more than five victims. In light of the over

2 230 victim statements submitted by the government, and the

3 trial record, which reflects the stunning breadth of Mr. Guo's

4 fraudulent schemes, I agree with probation and apply a 2-level

5 enhancement under Section 2B1.1(b)(2)(A)(i) because there are

6 at least 10 victims.

7 Third, for the reasons I have already stated, I agree

8 with probation that Mr. Guo acted on behalf of a charitable,

9 educational, religious, or political organization, and apply

10 the 2-level enhancement under Section 2B1.1(b)(9)(A).

11 Fourth, like probation, I apply a 2-level enhancement

12 under Section 2B1.1(b)(10) because the offense "involved

13 sophisticated means"——namely, the use of "fictitious entities"

14 and "corporate shells," as well as the invention of a phony

15 cryptocurrency. See, for example, Trial Transcript pages 3657

16 to 3666; see also pages 2667 to 2668, 2671, and 2673 to 2674.

17 Fifth, I agree with probation and apply a 2-level

18 enhancement under Section 2S.1(b)(3) because Mr. Guo was

19 convicted of money laundering under 18, United States Code,

20 Section 1956, and the offense involved "sophisticated

21 laundering"——namely, the use of "fictitious entities" and

22 "corporate shells."

23 Sixth, for the reasons I have already stated, I apply

24 a 4-level enhancement under Section 3B1.1 because Mr. Guo was

25 "an organizer or leader" of the criminal activity, which

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1 involved five or more participants.

2 Seventh, I apply a 2-level obstruction of justice

3 enhancement under Section 3C1.1 because Mr. Guo "willfully

4 obstructed or impeded . . . the administration of justice with

5 respect to the investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of the

6 instant offense of conviction." As I discussed earlier, I find

7 by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Guo intimidated

8 potential cooperators or witnesses by creating a "blacklist" of

9 his critics and sharing their personally identifiable

10 information with his supporters, who have a pattern of engaging

11 in harassing behavior. See, for example, Trial Transcript

12 pages 1533, lines 12-17. Separately, I find that Mr. Guo both

13 directly and indirectly contributed to a campaign of harassment

14 to deter the Trustee of his bankruptcy estate from seizing

15 Mr. Guo's property and investigating his finances so that his

16 fraud victims can be repaid.

17 Based on my independent evaluation of the sentencing

18 guidelines, I find that the offense level is 55, which I treat

19 as 43 because that is the maximum possible offense level; the

20 criminal history category is I; and the resulting guidelines

21 recommendation is 2100 months' imprisonment because of the

22 statutory maximum. I also calculate a fine range of $50,000 to

23 $5 million.

24 Now I will hear from the parties.

25 Does the government wish to be heard with regard to

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1 sentencing?

2 MR. FINKEL: It does, your Honor. And I also want to

3 note for your Honor that there is at least one victim here who

4 wishes to be heard.

5 THE COURT: I will allow that individual to come

6 forward later on.

7 MR. FINKEL: Okay.

8 THE COURT: Actually, you know something, I think that

9 it would be better to have the victim come forward now.

10 MR. FINKEL: Okay.

11 THE COURT: I understand that the government has

12 identified a victim who wishes to make a statement.

13 Before we proceed with victim statements, I want to

14 explain the law that applies to victim statements. The Crime

15 Victims' Rights Act defines a crime victim as a person directly

16 and proximately harmed as a result of the commission of a

17 federal offense. 18, United States Code, Section 3771(e). In

18 other words, you are only a victim if you have been directly

19 and proximately harmed by Mr. Guo and his crimes.

20 For anyone who wishes to be heard, I'm going to ask

21 you two questions before you start: (1) What is your name? and

22 (2) Are you a victim of Mr. Guo's offenses? If you state that

23 you are not a victim of Mr. Guo's crimes, you will not be

24 permitted to speak. Each individual will have up to

25 two minutes to complete their statement.

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1 So you may call the individual that you have

2 identified.

3 MR. FINKEL: Yes, your Honor. It's Ms. Chen. If she

4 could please come up.

5 THE COURT: If she could step to the podium.

6 MR. FINKEL: While she comes up, your Honor, I may

7 have missed it——apologies——but is your Honor's finding with

8 respect to the base offense level consistent with the

9 recommendation in the PSR of a base offense level of 7?

10 THE COURT: Yes.

11 MS. CHEN: My name is Wei Chen. I'm a victim of Miles

12 Guo's fraud, and I testified in June 2024.

13 I understand only two minutes allowed. However, I

14 prepared I believe more than two minutes. I wonder if possible

15 for me to——

16 THE COURT: I would like you to limit your statement.

17 And so if you could condense it, please.

18 MS. CHEN: Okay. I'll be quick.

19 So, your Honor, I appreciate the opportunity. This

20 fraud destroyed my life and my family. It did not just take

21 money, it took our sense of security; it took our peace of

22 mind; it took our hope; and it took life from us, the

23 best years of our lives. It created a constant mental burden

24 that feels like an ongoing suffering. And this problem has not

25 ended. We live with it every day, every hour. It is anxiety,

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1 regret, guilt towards our family, sleepless nights and constant

2 stress of trying to survive financially after losing years of

3 savings and hard work. And this harm extends beyond

4 individuals. It affects families; it affects children, their

5 education, their future; it affects elderly family members,

6 their care and their stability. Behind every victim is a whole

7 family. Their life has been deeply damaged and destroyed.

8 Your Honor, one especially harmful part of this fraud

9 is how it unfolded over time. It was one program after

10 another, where we were repeatedly encouraged to give more and

11 more. At first, we used our hard-earned savings, but over time

12 we were pushed into debt. Toward the end of 2021, the fraud

13 introduced new programs with urgency, pressure, and promises of

14 significant returns, pushing us to borrow close to 400,000 at a

15 high interest rate. We took on the debt because we believed in

16 the false promise that returns would come quickly and allow us

17 to repay the debt. Instead, those promises were false, and

18 that loan accumulated about 300,000 in interest since December

19 2021. It continues to grow every day in a way that is

20 overwhelming and deeply stressful. So for the past ten years,

21 this harm has not been in the past; it follows into the

22 present. It shapes how we live today and affects our tomorrow.

23 We were once a happy family. The happiness is gone,

24 and it's hard to regain.

25 What makes it even more painful is that the defendant

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1 continues to deny this fraud. His supporters continue to

2 spread misinformation and continue attacking victims who came

3 forward. Since I testified, I experienced attacks, and some of

4 those attacks made me fear for my safety. That added even more

5 weight to the harm. It would have been easier to stay silent,

6 but I chose to come back and speak here after two years. I

7 chose to do what I believe is right, even when it's painful,

8 even when it feels unsafe. I am here because victims' rights

9 have been delayed and denied for too long. Even though

10 speaking publicly exposes me to more attacks, I am here to tell

11 the Court and the public the truth about the real harm caused

12 by the fraud, by this fraud itself, caused by the fraud network

13 running it, caused by the sentencing delays, and any future

14 delays until the money is returned to the true victims of the

15 fraud, the true victims that are enduring the harm every day

16 from Miles Guo's criminal conduct. Sentencing delay has

17 extended the harm, because for my family, the time is not

18 neutral. Every additional month, every additional day without

19 meaningful financial relief adds more debt from this

20 high-interest borrowing because of this fraud, because of this

21 false promise. Further delays do not simply postpone relief.

22 It creates additional financial harm that becomes harder and

23 harder to overcome.

24 For years, we the victims waited and waited for

25 so-called investment to deliver the returns we were promised.

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1 And now we find ourselves waiting again——waiting for justice to

2 be served, waiting for closure, waiting for return of our money

3 that rightfully belongs to us, our hard-earned money. We need

4 that money to pay off debts, support our children's education,

5 care for our families, and the basic necessities of life. The

6 continued waiting is not difficult, it is painful.

7 THE COURT: Thank you, ma'am. If you would please

8 bring your statement to a close. Continue for another

9 30 seconds and please then stop.

10 MS. CHEN: So it is not just a financial fraud. It is

11 damaging our health, our stability, our trust, our dignity, our

12 hope, and the future we are trying to build.

13 And next, I want to address restitution. I understand

14 government position regarding remission, regarding the

15 complexity of the case and number of victims involved.

16 However, victims' loss have been already clearly established

17 through the sworn testimony and of evidence before this Court,

18 including my own. I respectfully ask the Court to consider

19 ordering restitution at his sentencing today.

20 THE COURT: All right. Thank you, ma'am. I will

21 carefully consider what you have said.

22 MS. CHEN: Thank you.

23 THE COURT: Thank you.

24 Are there any other victims, any other individuals who

25 will come up and answer yes when I ask whether they are a

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1 victim of Mr. Guo?

2 Please step up.

3 What is your name?

4 SPECTATOR: Ching Li Bard Jordan (phonetic).

5 THE COURT: Are you a victim of Mr. Guo's crimes?

6 SPECTATOR: Yes, ma'am.

7 THE COURT: Go ahead.

8 SPECTATOR: We're here today for Miles's sentencing.

9 We're also here to witness America's funeral, that you killed

10 your nation.

11 THE COURT: All right. So ma'am, so far I don't hear

12 your saying that you're a victim. And so if you're ready to

13 state how you have been victimized by Mr. Guo's criminal

14 conduct, you may go forward, but so far, I am not hearing that.

15 SPECTATOR: We do not hate you, nor——

16 THE COURT: I'm going to have to bring this to a close

17 because what you're making is a political statement unrelated

18 to his various criminal conduct.

19 Is there any other individual who claims to be a

20 victim of Mr. Guo?

21 And is there any other individual in the overflow who

22 may be a victim of Mr. Guo?

23 All right. I've heard word that there is no other

24 individual identifying themselves as a victim in the overflow

25 room.

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1 All righty then. I will hear from the government.

2 MR. FINKEL: Thank you, your Honor.

3 Miles Guo is not a Democratic activist. He is a con

4 artist, he is a fraudster, he is a scammer, and a thief. And

5 to afford just punishment for his crimes, to promote respect

6 for the law, to deter him specifically and others who may seek

7 to do what he has already done, to protect the public, to

8 protect the many who, sadly, remain under Miles Guo's spell,

9 this Court should impose a sentence of at least——at least——

10 30 years' imprisonment. And that's because for nearly

11 five years, the defendant preyed on thousands. He lied to

12 them, he brainwashed many, he attacked and harassed others, and

13 he caused all that pain and suffering, not because he cares

14 about any political cause; he did it because he cares the most

15 of all about himself.

16 This was not a moment of poor judgment or an

17 aberration of an otherwise law-abiding life. Miles Guo did

18 this to feed his narcissism. He did it so he can live a life

19 of luxury and excess——a Bugatti; a Lamborghini; a $26 million

20 mansion; a $36,000 mattress——two of them actually; a $50,000

21 fire log holder; a music video, promoting himself, holding a

22 light saber.

23 And Miles Guo sits here today, unapologetic, refusing

24 to accept even a modicum of responsibility. He's steadfast

25 that all of this wreckage, everything he left in his wake,

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1 never even happened. Even worse, he portrays himself as a

2 victim. But the evidence that this Court saw, that a jury saw,

3 proved that Guo was a perpetrator on a grand scale. And it's

4 certainly one thing, your Honor, to deny guilt as a defendant

5 in an American courtroom, but it's another entirely to deny

6 reality. And that's where I'd like to focus my brief remarks,

7 on the reality of the harm that Miles Guo caused, because that

8 should be a primary focus, your Honor, in assessing the

9 seriousness of the offense and deciding what constitutes just

10 punishment.

11 Your Honor referenced the 235 victim statements that

12 have been submitted to you. They account for the magnitude of

13 the harm. They discuss the financial burden. We just heard

14 from Ms. Chen as well. But it was more than just financial

15 security and money. There's a reality of enduring anguish.

16 Statement 42: "I lost my passion. My whole body was

17 depressed. I suffered from severe depression and want to kill

18 myself every day."

19 Statement 200: "I was overwhelmed with shame, guilt,

20 and despair. I struggled with recurring suicidal thoughts. I

21 lost my will to live."

22 That is the reality of Miles Guo's harm.

23 And these victims come from across the country and

24 around the world, and they have, generally speaking, a unifying

25 theme. They were part of the Chinese diaspora, and universally

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1 against the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP. And it's Miles

2 Guo's false statements about fighting the CCP that drew victims

3 to him, and that separates Miles Guo from a garden-variety

4 fraud.

5 Sure, he promised his victims financial gain and

6 riches. But it was more sinister than that. He claimed to be

7 part of their family, their brother. He called them his

8 brothers and his sisters, as someone who could be trusted,

9 claiming to share the same political and moral views as his

10 victims. So your Honor, in that sense it's an extraordinary

11 affinity fraud that the defendant committed because he targeted

12 a community, and, ironically, or perhaps even purposefully, as

13 Statement 157 summed it up well, "While loudly proclaiming his

14 goal to defeat the CCP, he actually served their interests, by

15 discrediting the very cause he claimed to support. By

16 betraying us, the true believers in ending the CCP's tyranny,

17 he tarnished the fight against the CCP itself. Now whenever

18 someone hears about efforts to oppose the CCP, they may

19 question whether it's just another scam." So in a very real

20 way, rather than fight the CCP as he loves to claim over and

21 over again, he helped their cause.

22 Your Honor, another important point for the Court to

23 consider is his total and utter contempt for United States

24 laws. As your Honor saw during trial, as the jury saw, the

25 defendant's audaciousness in criminality grew over time. He

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1 started out, as your Honor recounted before, with the Rule of

2 Law Society and foundation. It grew into GTV, in which he was

3 investigated and dealt with in a civil regulatory manner. So

4 he changed his efforts. He changed his tactics. He tried to

5 dress up his fraud by, instead of selling stock, pretending to

6 sell farm loans. And then that continued in its audaciousness

7 by creating a fake business called G|CLUBS. And in the summer

8 of 2022, and the fall, when grand jury subpoenas found their

9 way to G|CLUBS and the government seized $630 million, the

10 defendant once again, instead of stopping what he was doing,

11 instead of realizing that he was violating the law, he doubled

12 down and tripled down and quadrupled down, and he launched the

13 810 and the 815, schemes that collected money by claiming to

14 sell more stock, with the express purpose of sending that money

15 abroad, to the Middle East, expressly out of reach of the U.S.

16 government.

17 And that contempt, your Honor, continued today—-today,

18 before you, when the defendant lied, malingering, pretending to

19 be ill, to try to avoid sentencing today.

20 The ever-evolving nature of the defendant's

21 criminality also underscores I think a very important point for

22 this Court: the defendant is and remains a significant danger

23 to society.

24 Victim statements recount, as Ms. Chen just did, how

25 the enterprise continues, developing new meme coins and

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1 money-luring opportunities. The defendant operates like the

2 law does not apply to him, and only incarceration will keep the

3 public safe. As your Honor mentioned, he has acolytes who are

4 willing to protest in front of an elementary school——an

5 elementary school——because one of the teachers was the daughter

6 of the bankruptcy trustee who was discharging his job to try to

7 obtain money for creditors in accordance with the laws of the

8 United States.

9 The defendant personally told Ya Li to destroy

10 subpoenas; his daughter was told to lie in a deposition. The

11 defendant moved a boat outside the jurisdiction of the United

12 States to avoid civil contempt. He was held in criminal

13 contempt by a judge of New York State Supreme Court.

14 He has no respect for the law, and there is nothing

15 that can assure this Court that once released, he won't

16 continue to prey on the victims he has already victimized, and

17 many others.

18 Now, in their sentencing submission, the defense makes

19 much of defendant's history and characteristics. And they

20 recount his mythology——the same mythology that the defendant

21 used to lure victims into his schemes; the same mythology he

22 used to build a cult of personality and to brainwash victims.

23 I don't know, and I think no one knows, how much of that

24 history is true, but certainly this defendant has little

25 credibility left to spend here before this Court, so I would

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1 submit that instead of evaluating the truth of the defendant's

2 mythology, the truth of his words, or lack thereof, we look at

3 his actions. His actions speak louder than his words. And

4 here's what we know:

5 The defendant immigrated to the United States in 2015,

6 thereabouts. He claimed he needed asylum, that he needed

7 protection, from the United States. He had access to

8 opportunities that many cannot have access to but wish they

9 could. He's brilliant. He is charismatic. He is smart. He

10 could have lived a successful, law-abiding life in the United

11 States, but almost immediately, he chose to commit crimes on a

12 grand scale. And if anything, while here as an asylee, he

13 should have maintained rigid compliance with the laws of the

14 United States, with its rules and regulations. But instead, he

15 took opportunity after opportunity to engage and engineer a

16 fraud of historic proportions. Those are the actions that is

17 the history and characteristics that should animate this

18 Court's sentence.

19 Last point, but an important one. The defendant

20 clearly has his supporters, those who speak online and try to

21 scare victims who have come forward; those who try to scare the

22 truth from coming out; supporters who promise that this is all

23 a charade and one day Miles Guo will return to them to lead

24 them. And the reality is that they——many of them, at least——

25 are probably victims too. And the defendant maintains this

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1 hold and grip over them; a grip so tight that he can convince

2 them that they aren't victims at all. And that underscores,

3 your Honor, the danger the defendant poses to the public. If

4 released, it is near certainty, if not absolutely certain, that

5 he will pick their pockets again, that he will victimize those

6 supporters again. Those victims may disclaim their victimhood,

7 they may disclaim that they were defrauded. What was proven at

8 the trial that you presided over, your Honor, is that the

9 defendant Miles Guo intended to defraud them; he acted with

10 knowledge, he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did it

11 for himself, over and over and over again.

12 So it is up to this Court, and your Honor alone, to

13 protect those who are unable to protect themselves, and the

14 government submits that a lengthy sentence, one that

15 incapacitates the defendant from harming others, is necessary

16 here.

17 And so when reflecting on the reality, the reality of

18 what the defendant has done, his course of conduct for

19 five years, all that he built, all the lives he destroyed, it's

20 sort of hard to understand how a person could be responsible

21 for all these significant crimes. Miles Guo's criminality is

22 massive. The harm he caused was and remains devastating to

23 thousands. The obstruction, the flouting of Court's orders,

24 the vengeance on those who stood in his way and their family.

25 Miles Guo did not lead a movement, he led a criminal enterprise

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1 that was built on lies he told so he could take other people's

2 money and spend it on himself. And he strengthened that

3 enterprise through threats and violence and fear.

4 For leading one of the most extraordinary frauds that

5 this country has seen, to protect the public and those who

6 can't protect themselves, a lengthy and substantial sentence of

7 at least——at least——30 years is absolutely necessary in this

8 case.

9 Thank you.

10 THE COURT: Now I'll hear from the defense.

11 MS. SARAFA: Thank you, your Honor.

12 I think we can all agree that this is no ordinary

13 case. Miles Guo is no ordinary individual. The U.S.

14 government, not to mention the Chinese government, has a

15 certain view of him.

16 It's important at this stage of the case to take a

17 deep, full look at who Miles Guo as a person is and how his

18 background relates to why we're here today.

19 Let me acknowledge that Mr. Guo went to trial. He

20 maintains his innocence. He was found not guilty of the

21 government's core fraud allegations concerning the GTV Private

22 Placement, as well as of engaging in an unlawful monetary

23 transaction. We acknowledge that he was found guilty of other

24 fraud counts related to the Farm Loans, G|CLUBS, and Himalaya

25 Exchange, as well as money laundering and conspiracy-related

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1 counts. We accept that verdict for purposes of sentencing, but

2 it is important to place it in its proper context and

3 understand its limits.

4 Mr. Guo is a human being like every other defendant

5 who has appeared before this Court. He has a unique personal

6 history that has shaped his fundamental character, motivation,

7 and his orientation to the world. He was born in China

8 two years into the cultural revolution. That lasted a full

9 ten years. And his parents were deemed enemies of the State

10 during that period of time. As a result, his childhood, one of

11 eight brothers born to his parents, consisted of total

12 immersion in the hardships and abuses that an authoritarian

13 government can and does inflict on its people. Now millions of

14 Chinese individuals may have had similar experiences during the

15 cultural revolution, but that fact has not diminished the

16 lasting impact that those experiences have on every single one

17 of them. Mr. Guo's unwavering support for democracy, a more

18 democratic China, and a better life for the people of China, is

19 rooted in his personal experience.

20 He did not receive much of a formal education. He

21 quit school at about age 15 to work and help support his

22 family. He married young, still in his teens, and had two

23 children with his wife, to whom he remains married to this day,

24 before he reached age 20. That's about how old he was in 1989

25 when the Tiananmen protests began in China, and given Mr. Guo's

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1 childhood, it's not surprising that he sold his motorcycle,

2 provided the funds to support the protestors of Tiananmen. For

3 that support, he was visited by police officers, who,

4 tragically, shot his brother, who was trying to protect Mr. Guo

5 when a firearm was drawn. Both of them were arrested. His

6 brother died of his wounds. Mr. Guo served approximately

7 two years in prison.

8 I start here because the government suggests not

9 only——I mean argues strenuously that Mr. Guo is not a genuine

10 political dissident but that he has adopted that persona solely

11 for personal financial gain. In reality, Mr. Guo came to his

12 lifelong commitment to democracy honestly and through the

13 crucible of extreme trauma. I don't think we can gloss over

14 the impact of his witnessing his brother shot and killed by the

15 police. While he was incarcerated, he witnessed at least 50

16 political prisoners being executed.

17 He was physically tortured on multiple occasions not

18 only during his post-Tiananmen incarceration but also after he

19 exposed corruption by a prominent Beijing city official.

20 And to the extent the government maintains that

21 Mr. Guo's personal background is a mythology, I would point to

22 the probation officer's personal observations of the physical

23 scars that Mr. Guo bears to this day as a result of torture.

24 That's referenced in the presentence report.

25 Experiences like the ones Mr. Guo has endured shape a

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1 person. In this case, they solidified his commitment to

2 opposing authoritarian rule, exposing corruption, and

3 supporting a democratic China. His support of democracy, by

4 the way, also extends to assisting the United States in

5 protecting its own national security and understanding the many

6 ways that China infiltrates this country and attempts to

7 undermine it.

8 In short, Mr. Guo is a legitimate pro-democracy

9 activist and has been since his youth. Any suggestion to the

10 contrary isn't supported by the facts, not the least of which

11 are the fact that for years Mr. Guo has been the primary target

12 of China's Operation Fox Hunt, and he's had multiple immediate

13 family members as well as employees and supporters arrested and

14 detained for years.

15 It's worth asking why China would go to the lengths it

16 has to silence and repatriate Mr. Guo. Why is he such a threat

17 to the CCP? The extent of the CCP's efforts reflect its deep

18 concerns about Mr. Guo's ability to undermine his authority and

19 reveal information it does not want disclosed. If Mr. Guo's

20 activities were merely the work of a conman or a fraudster and

21 nothing more, the CCP would not be deploying armies of

22 operatives to discredit him through a staggeringly extensive

23 social media campaign. At some point, in its scope, that

24 social media campaign was second only to the CCP's efforts to

25 discredit the Hong Kong protestors, democracy protestors of

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1 2019. The CCP has spent tens if not hundreds of millions of

2 dollars recruiting U.S. political and business elite to lobby

3 the U.S. government for his repatriation to China. They've

4 pressured U.S. social media companies to de-platform him,

5 they've interrogated, coerced, arrested, prosecuted, jailed

6 individuals in China for just listening to his broadcast.

7 They've taken advantage of the U.S. legal system and the First

8 Amendment freedoms here to file a false rape complaint against

9 Mr. Guo and then orchestrate demonstrations outside his home,

10 calling him a rapist, and then publicize those demonstrations

11 on social media.

12 We detailed this and more in our sentencing

13 submission, but even the many pages in our sentencing

14 submission that discuss this campaign against him really can't

15 capture the true magnitude of the Chinese government operation

16 against Mr. Guo as well as against those who dare to listen to

17 his broadcast where they can in China, or to engage in any way

18 with any entities associated with him.

19 And these facts are not in dispute. I mean, the U.S.

20 government itself has brought dozens of criminal prosecutions

21 against individuals who have done the CCP's bidding against

22 Mr. Guo. We've cited complaint after complaint, document after

23 document drafted by the United States government detailing

24 these efforts.

25 And that brings us to the conduct in this case.

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1 The jury acquitted Mr. Guo of the GTV Private

2 Placement, convicted on other counts. We accept the jury's

3 verdict, but we do recognize that that verdict has limits,

4 especially with respect to proven losses and victimization of

5 investors and supporters. The creation of GTV was a direct

6 response to CCP efforts to silence Mr. Guo, to suppress his

7 speech by pressuring other social media platforms to shut down

8 his accounts. GTV, in contrast, was free from external

9 pressure, and it became a vibrant and active platform. That

10 platform was itself part of the efforts to take down the CCP.

11 That platform was a way to get out messages about corruption,

12 expose what actually is taking place in China at the behest of

13 the Chinese government, and those broadcasts are the effort.

14 So it's not accurate to say that this organization did nothing,

15 that his movement did nothing. That platform was a core part

16 of undertaking the dismantling of the CCP, building a movement.

17 The Himalaya Exchange provided a safe place to store

18 money outside the prying eyes of the CCP. And that is a

19 service for which there is a tremendous market. It also

20 provided an opportunity for individuals to make money through

21 creating H Coin on the Himalaya Exchange. The letters we

22 provided to the Court contain numerous accounts of individuals

23 who profited substantially from their investment in the

24 Himalaya Exchange, and who invested in it for reasons having

25 nothing to do with the alleged misrepresentations of Mr. Guo,

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1 with respect to the exchange being backed by gold, for

2 instance.

3 G|CLUBS, G Fashion, the Farm Loans, these were all

4 part of building a brand to support the whistleblower movement.

5 The luxury cars. The government's made much of those

6 cars. Mr. Guo himself doesn't drive. There's been no

7 observation of him out and about driving around in those cars.

8 The Bugatti never even left the showroom in Texas. They were

9 props for videos, to show what could be, what could be achieved

10 for the people of China, to build the brand for the

11 whistleblower movement.

12 The mansion, the Mahwah mansion. Again, much has been

13 made of that. There was also testimony at trial that that was

14 intended as a permanent home for the whistleblower movement.

15 Mr. Guo himself lived in Connecticut. He wasn't living at the

16 mansion in Mahwah. That's just not accurate.

17 These were not personal luxuries that he was obtaining

18 for himself. These were part of the brand which resonated

19 strongly with thousands of individuals who see in the movement

20 hope for a freer and a more democratic China.

21 I should also note that Mr. Guo——much has been made of

22 his Brioni suits, the yacht. A lot of these things were

23 obtained prior to any alleged misconduct in this case.

24 Mr. Guo's family members were legitimate billionaires long

25 before Mr. Guo came to this country, long before the conduct at

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1 issue in this case. The movement was a separate project,

2 independent of personal wealth. The government narrative about

3 needing the money and creating these entities as a way to

4 obtain money just doesn't make sense. The government knows

5 well that if Mr. Guo had needed or cared about money, it would

6 have been much easier for him to avail himself of the many

7 opportunities to secure the release of billions of dollars in

8 funds seized by the CCP if only he would agree to stop

9 criticizing it and exposing corruption. He was unwilling to do

10 that. He had those opportunities. At least $10 billion in

11 seized assets. He could have just said, okay, I'll stop

12 criticizing the CCP. Those assets would have been unfrozen.

13 But that's not what animates him. That is not what motivates

14 him. That is not why we're here. The simple and indisputable

15 fact that he could have availed himself of those opportunities

16 underscores his genuine commitment to the underlying movement.

17 His fidelity consistently has been to the movement. Even his

18 original pursuit of wealth back in the early '90s, after being

19 released from prison following Tiananmen, was for that very

20 purpose. That's the purpose, to achieve that level of wealth

21 and prominence and then be able to exert the kind of influence

22 that one needs to have in order to build a movement that has

23 any hope of taking on a government and a party as powerful as

24 the Chinese Communist Party.

25 There is a——

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1 THE COURT: One moment, please.

2 You may continue.

3 MS. SARAFA: Thank you, your Honor.

4 There's a vast gulf in this case between the loss

5 amount advanced by the government, set forth in the guidelines,

6 and the alleged harm to victims, and the overwhelming number of

7 investors and customers who disclaim victim status. This goes

8 straight to the nature and circumstances of the offense, the

9 seriousness of the conduct, and we respectfully submit that

10 this is a case where the 3553(a) factors should weigh more

11 heavily than the guidelines.

12 There are literally thousands of investors and

13 customers of the G series entities who affirmatively state that

14 they are not victims of Mr. Guo. These are not deluded,

15 brainwashed sycophants. We submitted statements from 1286

16 unique individuals. We accounted for multiple individuals in

17 our number count and in our statistics, unlike the government,

18 who cites 235 statements but, by our assessment, at least 40 or

19 more are from the same individual. 1286 unique individuals.

20 Of those, 1223 expressly stated that they were not victimized

21 by Mr. Guo. Most of them did not indicate the size of their

22 investments in the submissions they sent to us, but for those

23 that did, the amount totaled more than $72 million. 108 of

24 them reported being interrogated by the CCP. 35 reported being

25 coerced to make statements such as confessions, guarantees,

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1 repentance, or acknowledgment of having been defrauded. Seven

2 reported being forced to file false complaints with U.S. law

3 enforcement and media. 28 reported being arrested and/or

4 prosecuted by the CCP. We continue to receive more of these

5 statements daily. And these are not cookie-cutter

6 presentations. They're unique, detailed, thoughtful accounts

7 of individual deliberation and due diligence in connection with

8 their investments from individuals from all walks of life, many

9 professionals, even one from a non-Chinese lawyer in Australia,

10 who invested at the suggestion of one of his clients. These

11 are not robotic recitations from brainwashed masses lacking

12 agency. And these support——these individuals who provided

13 these statements, they included supporting

14 documents——government-issued IDs, passports, other

15 identification documents. They included videos, audio,

16 recordings of interrogation by Chinese officials, photos,

17 screenshots of text messaging between them and the officials, a

18 tremendous amount of indicia of credibility, and we've included

19 at least one of those in its entirety in our sentencing

20 submission, but there are hundreds of these. And apart from

21 those, apart from those statements, there are more than 6,000

22 Himalaya Exchange customers who have submitted 853(n)

23 petitions. There are more than 300 Hamilton investors who have

24 submitted 853(n) petitions. Both of those groups, thousands of

25 customers, maintain that they were not victimized by Mr. Guo

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1 and that their investments, the money that's been seized, is

2 not the proceeds of fraud. They're not crime proceeds. That's

3 their position. That's thousands and thousands of investors.

4 At trial, there was a discussion about extrapolating

5 from the testimony of Yi Jianhu, one of the defense witnesses

6 who said that he'd been pressured by the Chinese government to

7 make false statements. And the government strenuously objected

8 to the defense making any inference about such pressure having

9 been exerted on other witnesses in the case. And the Court

10 said that——the Court granted that request and said it's not

11 proper to extrapolate or speculate because we've only

12 heard——beyond the testimony of the people who testified in this

13 trial.

14 And yet the loss amount that the government talks

15 about and the loss amount calculated in the PSR is speculation.

16 The witnesses at trial testified to no more than 1.5 million in

17 losses. The individuals in this room, the more than 6,000

18 Himalaya Exchange customers, the nearly 1300 people who sent us

19 letters, they all say, we were not victimized. We invested for

20 reasons that have nothing to do with the misrepresentations

21 Mr. Guo allegedly made. And these people, these individuals

22 consistently say that any hardship they suffered is a result of

23 their funds being seized and held by the government.

24 They maintain also that Mr. Guo was up front in his

25 broadcasts about the risk of investment. These are not

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1 victimized, brainwashed people. They talk about receiving real

2 value for the investments they made. Not just G|CLUBS, not

3 just actually getting, you know, G Fashion, not just GTV, but

4 Himalaya Exchange. People made real money with——through the

5 Himalaya Exchange. That's value. In fact, many of them are

6 still holders of H Coin, which retained value to this day. It

7 retained value up until the very day that Mr. Guo was convicted

8 and the platform was shut down. I believe one of the

9 individuals even said the decision to invest with Mr. Guo was

10 one of the most important and correct of his life. And that

11 was a consistent refrain. These individuals say that they've

12 made their own independent decisions about whether to send

13 money to various G series entities. They weren't victimized or

14 brainwashed by Mr. Guo.

15 The government has, sitting in its coffers, more than

16 $600 million seized. The GTV entities readily settled the SEC

17 case and disgorged more than $500 million. That money is all

18 going back to——it has already——most of it has already gone back

19 to investors; in fact, it had even before the trial.

20 The money is not——this is not like a Ponzi scheme,

21 where there's preying on subsequent investors because you have

22 to keep bringing in money to give——to pay out original

23 investors. The money was all there. These were operating

24 businesses. Value was obtained by the people investing in

25 them.

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1 Mr. Guo's pro-democracy, anti-CCP message resonated

2 with people around the globe. The supporters' statements

3 overflow with hope. That is inspired by Mr. Guo. That is

4 meaningful. That is meaningful. That in itself is meaningful.

5 We've talked about some of Mr. Guo's assistance to the

6 United States. We've done our best to provide the Court with

7 that information to the best of our ability, although quite a

8 bit of information is not even available to us. We've

9 requested it; we have not received it.

10 We've also provided to the Court information about

11 Mr. Guo's physical and mental health, which has deteriorated

12 since he's been at MDC. The conditions at the MDC are well

13 known to this Court. That's no surprise. The conditions in

14 the Bureau of Prisons are not great. Mr. Guo's physical and

15 mental health most likely will get worse as he continues to

16 spend time in incarceration. In this district——and those

17 factors are important and considered by courts, taken very

18 seriously. In this district, less than a quarter of defendants

19 in fraud cases are sentenced within the sentencing guidelines.

20 Most are sentenced substantially below the guidelines. And

21 that is a recognition, as your Honor has recognized, that

22 particularly in fraud cases, that the guidelines substantially

23 overstate the seriousness of the offense. The judiciary

24 sentencing information, the JSIN data, for 2021 to 2025, in

25 cases like this, where 2B1.1 is the primary guideline, the

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1 offense level is 43 and the criminal history category is I, no

2 prior criminal history, excluding cooperating defendants, the

3 average length of imprisonment in those cases is 167 months.

4 The median is 144 months. Sam Bankman-Fried was mentioned

5 earlier. His case involved $8 billion, multiples of what was

6 involved here, and I dare say not thousands of individuals who

7 said they weren't victimized. He received a sentence of

8 25 years. The government cited that in its brief. We submit

9 that a sentence below that is warranted here. A sentence

10 substantially below the sentencing guidelines is warranted in

11 this case, and substantially below what the government has

12 requested.

13 The fact that so many people have come forward, and in

14 their own words, not in some prefab template letter, have come

15 forward and told this Court their own story of why they

16 invested, their own reliance on the documentation, the white

17 papers, the credit placement memorandum, the loan agreements,

18 they read those documents. They made their decisions to

19 invest. They understood the risk. They told your Honor that

20 in their own words, that is just, and that really distinguishes

21 this case. That along with the fact that Mr. Guo has been this

22 target of the CCP, which has really been an animating force

23 behind this entire whistleblower movement, and that's the

24 reason the movement resonates so strongly with so many people.

25 It's the reason so many people are here today, because the

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1 oppression that they've experienced by the CCP is something

2 that everybody has an interest in moving on from. And

3 Mr. Guo's message is one of hope and promise for a better

4 future.

5 The individuals who continue to support him are not

6 deluded. They're very clear-eyed. They've communicated that

7 to the Court. And that really goes to the seriousness of the

8 offense and the nature and circumstances——or the nature and

9 circumstances of the offense, which we submit warrants a

10 sentence substantially below the guidelines level and what the

11 government has requested.

12 Thank you, your Honor.

13 THE COURT: Mr. Guo, would you like to say something?

14 THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, I would like to ask the

15 interpreter to speak for me.

16 Initially, I did not plan to speak. I look at this

17 today, I must say something regarding what just happened in

18 your courtroom. And also, in the other room, you asked the

19 marshals to testify and recall how I came to this building.

20 They said only one marshal brought me up here. In fact, there

21 were two marshals who brought me up. You don't have to trust

22 me. You can trust the camera. From 5 a.m. this morning, I

23 fainted and fell on the floor. And 911 sent me to the

24 hospital. So there have been people telling them that, don't

25 send me to the hospital, you have to send him to the court.

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1 After two rounds of injections and the medication I took, the

2 doctors said, you have to stay here, you cannot leave. You

3 don't have to trust me. You can just look at the videos in the

4 hospital and you can look that up.

5 So two officers from MDC received a call saying that I

6 must return to MDC. And I vomited many times on the way back

7 to MDC, and I vomited as well all through the day. So you

8 don't have to trust me. You can ask the two officers from MDC.

9 So when I returned to my room in MDC, they asked a

10 doctor to come. So a doctor came. I returned to MDC at 10:30

11 and then the doctor came at 10:45, and they asked me, are you

12 still okay? And I told them that, look at my face, I have

13 face——I have blood on my face and all over my body. I'm still

14 vomiting blood. And then that doctor said, I'll come back

15 later to give you a treatment, or maybe I just send you back to

16 your unit. I said, I would like to go to the court. You don't

17 have to trust me. You can look at the videos from the

18 hospital.

19 Around 1:30 p.m. a mysterious woman came——

20 THE COURT: Mr. Guo, please face me.

21 One moment. If you would just translate what I just

22 said.

23 THE DEFENDANT: So that woman in black talked to them,

24 saying that I could bring him to the court. Okay. This lady

25 was riding in another car, she was riding another vehicle, and

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1 I came with the vehicle with the officers. So before I left

2 MDC, they cut up my clothing and wiped off the blood from my

3 face so I got changed into this.

4 So that lady, she's not a police officer. She is

5 someone else, and she was in another car, and when I came here,

6 she was waiting for me downstairs.

7 And then, so when I came here, I said, I have tummy

8 ache, I need to go to the bathroom. I don't feel well. They

9 put me into another room. And this lady and the other officer,

10 they were still around. You can look at the videos later.

11 Therefore, regarding what the prosecutor said earlier, that's

12 not the truth. Even for these facts, with these clear facts,

13 he was not telling the truth, and he was playing the role of a

14 doctor, police, and a judge. In this case, whatever the

15 prosecutor said cannot be the truth. So when the prosecutor

16 spoke in front of you, your Honor, he mentioned that there was

17 only one officer. However, he did not mention the other lady.

18 You can ask him who was that lady.

19 And lastly, I would like to tell the judge that, for

20 the things I would like to say, that's included in the

21 submissions from my lawyers. I believe in the U.S. laws and

22 the judge. The reason I came to the U.S. is to destroy CCP. I

23 lost my family members, and 270 people have been arrested, and

24 I lost billions of dollars.

25 And your Honor, I thank you for everything you did.

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1 And I will appeal. Thank you.

2 THE COURT: Is there any reason why sentence should

3 not be imposed at this time?

4 MS. SARAFA: Your Honor, subject to our objections

5 about loss not being calculable without a Fatico and other

6 objections that we put on the record, no. And Mr. Guo's

7 health, as discussed in the other room.

8 MR. FINKEL: The government believes that sentencing

9 should go forward. And if I may, with respect, your Honor, I

10 just note for the record that Mr. Guo stood and gesticulated

11 with his arms throughout his colloquy with the Court. He was

12 cogent and clear in his presentation and seemed alert. But

13 that, of course, is just from my perspective.

14 THE COURT: As I have stated, the guidelines range to

15 be used in this case is 2100 months' imprisonment.

16 Under the Supreme Court's decision in Booker and its

17 progeny, the guidelines range is only one factor that I must

18 consider in deciding the appropriate sentence. As I mentioned

19 earlier, I am also required to consider the other factors set

20 forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 3553(a). These

21 include:

22 First, the nature and circumstances of the offense and

23 the history and characteristics of the defendant;

24 Second, the need for the sentence imposed to reflect

25 the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law,

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1 and to provide just punishment for the offense; to afford

2 adequate deterrence to criminal conduct; to protect the public

3 from further crimes of the defendant; and to provide the

4 defendant with needed education or vocational training, medical

5 care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective

6 manner;

7 Third, the kinds of sentences available;

8 Fourth, the guidelines range;

9 Fifth, any pertinent policy statement;

10 Sixth, the need to avoid unwarranted sentence

11 disparities among defendants with similar records who have been

12 found guilty of similar conduct; and

13 Seventh, the need to provide restitution to any

14 victims of the offense.

15 Ultimately, I am required to impose a sentence

16 sufficient, but no greater than necessary, to comply with the

17 purposes of sentencing that I just mentioned.

18 Probation recommends a below-guidelines sentence of

19 240 months' imprisonment on Counts One through Three and Seven

20 through Eleven, to run concurrently with each other, and

21 60 months' imprisonment on Count Four, to run consecutively to

22 the other counts. The total recommended sentence is

23 300 months' imprisonment.

24 The government recommends a sentence of at least

25 360 months' imprisonment, or 30 years.

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1 Mr. Guo argues for a sentence "substantially below the

2 applicable guidelines range and the sentencing recommendation

3 in the [presentence report]," but does not request a specific

4 sentence.

5 I have given substantial thought and attention to the

6 appropriate sentence in this case in light of all the factors

7 set forth in Section 3553(a) and the purposes of sentencing.

8 On July 16, 2024, having heard and seen all the

9 evidence in the case, including the testimony of 34 government

10 witnesses and nine defense witnesses, a jury of 12 people

11 unanimously concluded that Mr. Guo was engaged in a series of

12 fraudulent crimes and conspiracies, including a racketeering

13 conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to

14 commit securities fraud.

15 I must first consider the history and characteristics

16 of the defendant.

17 Mr. Guo, also known by the name Ho Wan Kwok, was born

18 in 1968 in the People's Republic of China. He was the seventh

19 of eight brothers born to his father, a miner, and his mother,

20 a homemaker. His birth occurred shortly after the Cultural

21 Revolution that was launched by Mao Zedong, and Mr. Guo's

22 parents were viewed as enemies of the State. During his

23 childhood, his family lived in poverty, and Mr. Guo witnessed

24 his family suffer from persecution at the hands of the Chinese

25 Communist Party, which I will refer to as the CCP. He reports

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1 that, as a result, both of his parents suffered from

2 significant mental health issues.

3 Mr. Guo states that between May 1989 and April 1991,

4 he served a 22-month prison term in China, after being charged

5 with subversive activities in connection with his support of

6 the demonstration in Tiananmen Square. He additionally reports

7 being held in an open cell with other political prisoners and

8 witnessing the execution of dozens of inmates.

9 In 1991, Mr. Guo began his career as a real estate

10 developer. In about 2000, he immigrated to Hong Kong and

11 became a citizen. Sixteen years later, fearing political

12 arrest, he fled to England, and in 2017, he entered the United

13 States on a tourist visa. One month prior to the expiration of

14 his visa, Mr. Guo applied for asylum, and his petition remains

15 pending.

16 Between 2016 and 2018, Mr. Guo claims that he was

17 engaged in a public campaign to, in his words, expose the CCP

18 and support democracy in China.

19 I will now turn to the nature and circumstances of the

20 offense, as well as the need for the sentence imposed to

21 reflect the seriousness of the offense, promote respect for the

22 law, provide just punishment for the offense, and protect the

23 public from further crimes of Mr. Guo.

24 Much of Mr. Guo's sentencing submission outlines

25 abuses that he claims he suffered at the hands of the CCP.

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1 Even crediting these claims, I find that none of them excuse

2 his fraudulent conduct.

3 For at least five years, Mr. Guo participated in a

4 conspiracy to defraud over a thousand victims from around the

5 world. Relying on his online presence and charismatic

6 personality, Mr. Guo, along with his co-conspirators, targeted

7 his followers by promising them outsized financial returns and

8 benefits for investing in various fraudulent businesses and

9 programs. Mr. Guo and his conspirators told their victims that

10 the money they contributed would be used to support

11 pro-democracy efforts in China. However, Mr. Guo and his

12 conspirators misappropriated the money to line their pockets,

13 as well as those of Mr. Guo's family——taking the victims' money

14 and using it to further Mr. Guo's extravagant lifestyle.

15 Mr. Guo was known as "Boss" and was in control of the

16 G Enterprise entities. See, for example, Trial Transcript

17 pages 1941 and 1677 to 1678. He was the face of the business

18 and, through his broadcasts, sought investments from his

19 supporters and made promises to them. Although Ms. Yvette Wang

20 and Mr. William Je also played a significant role in the

21 conspiracy, Mr. Guo was ultimately the boss and had the final

22 say.

23 Mr. Guo's schemes caused his victims great financial

24 and emotional harm:

25 One victim writes: "[Mr.] Guo repeatedly fabricated

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1 stories in his broadcasts. . . He convinced us that investing

2 in his projects was the only way to ensure financial safety.

3 Under this fear and persuasion, I sold my property, redeemed

4 all my long-term investments and life insurance, and invested

5 all my funds into his fraudulent ventures." Statement 168.

6 Another writes: "I invested over $120,000——my entire

7 savings from years of sacrifice. I have no job, and I gave all

8 my money to [Mr.] Guo. Now, I have no idea how I will sustain

9 myself for the rest of my life or how to face my family."

10 Statement 158.

11 Another states: "My husband and I were cruelly

12 defrauded of more than $1,500,000——our entire life savings.

13 Because of [Mr. Guo] and his accomplices. . ., we fell from a

14 comfortable life into complete poverty. My husband had to do

15 hard physical labor at low wages [and] borrow money from

16 others. . . I had to apply for social assistance. . . Our

17 whole family almost ended up sleeping on the streets."

18 Statement 184.

19 As I noted during Ms. Wang's sentencing, the victims

20 have not only experienced financial hardship, but many have

21 lost relationships with loved ones because of their

22 participation in Mr. Guo's scams. See Wang Sentencing

23 Transcript pages 56-57. The Court has received letters from

24 people whose partners left them and from parents whose children

25 no longer talk to them. These victims and others continue to

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1 experience depression and severe psychological distress due to

2 Mr. Guo's actions and the actions of his co-conspirators.

3 One victim writes: "I trusted [Mr. Guo] and his

4 associates, which led to a deep sense of personal violation and

5 a prolonged period of distress. The emotional toll of this

6 betrayal has affected my mental well-being and daily life,

7 which caused me a series of unpredictable consequences such as

8 insurance defaults, family discord and quarrels, personal

9 health and psychological breakdown, [and] career interruption."

10 Statement 163A.

11 Another writes: "The long-term extreme fear, anxiety,

12 and stress caused me to suffer from severe anxiety disorder and

13 I needed medication to sleep. In two months, I lost more than

14 40 pounds and my hair began to fall out." Statement 188.

15 Another states: "Trust within my family has been

16 badly damaged. My wife frequently argues with me over this

17 failed investment, and has even threatened to divorce me if we

18 can't recover the money. This has plunged me into a deep state

19 of guilt and suffering." Statement 190B.

20 I have read countless letters in the record expressing

21 similar sentiments.

22 Mr. Guo preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to

23 China——people who hoped deeply that the political system in

24 China would be challenged. He also preyed on their deep

25 fears——telling them he provided the best way to keep their

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1 money safe from China. As he took advantage of people's deeply

2 held emotions, Mr. Guo single-mindedly dedicated himself to

3 increasing his own wealth.

4 To this day, despite the jury's verdict and the

5 hundreds of victim statements submitted to the Court, Mr. Guo

6 takes no responsibility for his actions and instead insists,

7 incredibly, that his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one.

8 Meanwhile, he has called upon his supporters to harass and

9 intimidate those who dare to speak out against him. The

10 seriousness of his crime and the need for deterrence, to

11 protect the public, and to promote respect for the law warrant

12 a serious punishment.

13 Despite the gravity of these offenses, there are

14 several considerations that support a below-guidelines

15 sentence.

16 As I said earlier, I recognize that the loss

17 guidelines were not developed by the Sentencing Commission

18 using an empirical approach, and the guidelines placed undue

19 weight on the loss amount. See, for example, United States v.

20 Adelson, 441 F.Supp.2d 506, 509 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).

21 In addition, I must consider the need to avoid

22 unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar

23 records who have been found guilty of similar conduct.

24 As an initial point, I struggle to compare Mr. Guo's

25 case with any other, given the severity of Mr. Guo's crimes,

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1 his exploitation of a philanthropic purpose, his history of

2 intimidating his critics, and his continued refusal to accept

3 responsibility.

4 With respect to Mr. Guo's co-conspirator, Ms. Wang, on

5 January 6, 2025, I sentenced her to 120 months' imprisonment,

6 the statutory maximum penalty.

7 I note, however, that due to the statutory maximum

8 penalty, the applicable guidelines range in Ms. Wang's case was

9 120 months' imprisonment——roughly only 5 percent of the

10 guidelines range applicable here. See Wang Sentencing

11 Transcript at page 13, line 3. And although she played an

12 important role in the fraudulent scheme, she ultimately

13 reported to Mr. Guo, the boss. See Id. at page 57,

14 lines 19-23.

15 Moreover, Ms. Wang accepted responsibility, as

16 evidenced by her guilty plea. See Id. at page 58, lines 16 to

17 17. By contrast, Mr. Guo, to this day, denies responsibility

18 and exhibits no remorse for the harm that he has caused to so

19 many people.

20 Finally, I do consider the length of Mr. Guo's current

21 confinement. Mr. Guo has spent over three years at the

22 Metropolitan Detention Center. I recognize that the conditions

23 of confinement there are uniquely difficult, which warrants a

24 shorter sentence than might otherwise be imposed. See United

25 States v. Chavez, 710 F.Supp.3d 227, 234-35 (S.D.N.Y. 2024).

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1 I conclude, for the reasons stated, that a sentence

2 below the guidelines range is warranted.

3 Mr. Guo, please rise for the imposition of sentence.

4 It is the judgment of this Court that with respect to

5 Counts One, Two, Three, Four, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, and

6 Eleven, you are sentenced to 360 months' imprisonment. The

7 terms of imprisonment on these nine counts shall be served

8 concurrently to each other.

9 I do not impose a term of supervised release because,

10 pursuant to guidelines Section 5D1.1(c), courts should not

11 impose supervised release in a case in which it is not required

12 by statute and the defendant is likely to be deported after

13 serving his term of imprisonment.

14 I shall not impose a fine because probation does not

15 recommend one, but you must pay the mandatory special

16 assessment of $900, which is due immediately.

17 I shall not order restitution because of the

18 complexity of the case and the number of victims. I instead

19 grant the government's motion to authorize the United States to

20 compensate victims with finally forfeited assets through a

21 remission process, as restitution would be impractical in this

22 case. 18, United States Code, Section 3663A(c)(3).

23 We'll take a pause at this time. You may be seated.

24 (Recess)

25 THE COURT: Please be seated.

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1 Earlier, I stated that Mr. Guo's total term of

2 incarceration is 360 months. I want to clarify that with

3 respect to Counts One, Three, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, and

4 Eleven, I'm imposing 240 months' imprisonment, to run

5 concurrently with each other and the terms of imprisonment on

6 all other counts.

7 With respect to Count Two, I'm imposing a term of

8 360 months' imprisonment, to run concurrently with the

9 sentences imposed on all other counts.

10 And with respect to Count Four, I'm imposing a

11 sentence of 60 months' imprisonment, to run concurrently with

12 the sentence imposed on Count Two and to run consecutively with

13 the sentences imposed on all other counts.

14 Mr. Guo, I'm required to remind you that:

15 As a result of committing the offense alleged in Count

16 One of the S3 superseding indictment, you shall forfeit to the

17 United States, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code,

18 Section 1963:

19 Any interest acquired or maintained in violation of

20 Section 1962;

21 Any interest in, security of, claim against, or

22 property or contractual right of any kind affording a source of

23 influence over, any enterprise the defendants and their

24 co-conspirators established, operated, controlled, conducted,

25 or participated in the conduct of, in violation of

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1 Section 1962; and

2 Any property constituting, derived from, any proceeds

3 obtained, directly or indirectly, from the racketeering

4 activity charged in Count One.

5 As a result of committing the wire fraud and

6 securities fraud offenses alleged in Counts Two, Four, and

7 Seven through Eleven of the indictment, you shall forfeit to

8 the United States, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code,

9 Section 981(a)(1)(C) and Title 28, United States Code,

10 Section 2461(c), any and all property, real and personal, that

11 constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the

12 commission of said offenses, including but not limited to a sum

13 of money in United States currency representing the amount of

14 proceeds traceable to the commission of said offenses.

15 As a result of committing the money laundering offense

16 alleged in Count Three of the indictment, you shall forfeit to

17 the United States, pursuant to 18, United States Code,

18 Section 982(a)(1), any and all property, real and personal,

19 involved in said offenses, or any property traceable to such

20 property, including but not limited to a sum of money in United

21 States currency representing the amount of property involved in

22 said offenses.

23 On August 11, 2025, the Court entered a preliminary

24 order of forfeiture in this case. Mr. Guo filed numerous

25 objections to that order, which I reviewed carefully. Earlier

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1 today I issued an opinion addressing Mr. Guo's objections.

2 Mr. Guo, you are required to forfeit the property

3 listed in the preliminary order of forfeiture. You are also

4 required to forfeit the property listed in the supplemental

5 order of forfeiture filed by the government at ECF No. 790.

6 The order of forfeiture includes a money judgment of

7 $889 million against you.

8 I'm aware that numerous third-party petitions have

9 been sent to the Court seeking to assert claims under 21,

10 United States Code, 853(n). The Court will provide further

11 guidance on the handling of these petitions in due course,

12 given the sentence imposed today and the Court's resolution of

13 Mr. Guo's numerous objections to the Court's forfeiture order.

14 Does the government know of any legal reason why this

15 sentence as stated should not be imposed?

16 MR. FINKEL: It does not, your Honor.

17 THE COURT: Does the defense have any objection to the

18 imposition of the sentence as stated?

19 MS. SARAFA: Just we would reiterate our prior

20 objections, your Honor.

21 THE COURT: The sentence as stated is imposed.

22 That is the sentence of this Court. Mr. Guo, you have

23 a right to appeal your conviction and sentence. The notice of

24 appeal must be filed within 14 days of the judgment of

25 conviction.

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1 If you are not able to pay the costs of an appeal, you

2 may apply for leave to appeal in forma pauperis. If you

3 request, the Clerk of Court will prepare and file a notice of

4 appeal on your behalf.

5 Are there any further applications?

6 MR. FINKEL: One brief one, your Honor. On

7 March 17th, the government filed an application for a limited

8 unsealing of the petitions received by the clerk's office.

9 It's at Docket 818. This will enable the government to compare

10 what the clerk's office has received to what the government has

11 received by individuals seeking to file petitions so that the

12 petition process and forfeiture process with respect to

13 third-party claims can move forward. I don't know if the Court

14 has had an opportunity to review that or if the Court will

15 order that. We can certainly provide again the proposed order

16 for that.

17 THE COURT: Yes. Is there any objection?

18 MS. SARAFA: No, your Honor, although with respect to

19 853(n) petitions, I do want to note that in our letter dated

20 February 24, 2026, we sought an order directing the government

21 to produce to defense counsel copies of all the petitions that

22 they've received either pursuant to 853(n) or that could be

23 construed as pursuant to 853(n), and I don't believe there's

24 been a ruling on that.

25 THE COURT: First, government's application is

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1 granted.

2 Mr. Finkel, on the application just made by the

3 defense?

4 MR. FINKEL: The government objects. The defendant

5 has no right to that information. The forfeiture as to the

6 defendant is final. The defendant has stated previously that

7 he does not assert a personal interest in any of the specific

8 property that is subject to forfeiture. That is what those

9 petitions are about——the specific property that the defendant

10 himself has no interest in, by order of this Court and by his

11 own admission. The defendant's request should be denied.

12 THE COURT: The application of the defense is denied.

13 Are there any further applications?

14 MR. FINKEL: Not from the government. Thank you.

15 MS. SARAFA: Yes, your Honor. Excuse me, your Honor.

16 We also, in our letter dated June 25, 2026, ECF No. 853, we

17 requested production to the defense of unredacted copies of

18 certain FBI 302s. We specified the Bates range for the

19 documents that we requested unredacted copies of, and I don't

20 believe there's been a ruling on that request.

21 THE COURT: Mr. Finkel?

22 MR. FINKEL: I think there was a ruling on that

23 request. Your Honor issued several rulings in the last

24 couple of days, and one a few months ago, as well as other

25 rulings regarding discovery. The government has met its

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1 disclosure obligations in this case, as your Honor explicitly

2 held in a decision I think you issued yesterday. Rule 16 is

3 over, discovery is over, this case before the district court

4 with respect to Mr. Guo is finished. It should be denied.

5 THE COURT: The application is denied.

6 MS. SARAFA: Thank you, your Honor.

7 Two other brief matters. Just to let the Court know,

8 we do intend to make a request to make all of the sealed

9 submissions part of the record for appeal, and I believe we'll

10 do that in writing following today's proceeding.

11 And then finally, with respect to designation, we

12 would ask the Court to recommend in the judgment that Mr. Guo

13 be designated to the BOP facility in Danbury, and if that is

14 not available for any reason, to designate him to Fairton.

15 THE COURT: Does the government have any objection?

16 MR. FINKEL: Your Honor, the government takes no

17 position on this, but it is my understanding that it is the

18 BOP's preference that the defendant request a region as opposed

19 to particular facilities, as it's difficult for them to

20 accommodate specific facility requests.

21 MS. SARAFA: Your Honor, I——in our collective

22 experience, there have been many recommendations to specific

23 facilities, and I believe the BOP will do its best to

24 accommodate the recommendation and designate within the

25 relevant region, should that specific designation be

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1 unavailable.

2 THE COURT: So the application is granted. I will

3 make that recommendation.

4 Any further applications?

5 MS. SARAFA: Nothing further from the defense, your

6 Honor.

7 THE COURT: Very well. That brings our sentencing

8 hearing to an end. The matter is adjourned.

9 ALL COUNSEL: Thank you, your Honor.

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