Chinese businessman Guo Wengui goes on trial in US over alleged US$1 billion fraud scheme
- The jury will be partially anonymous, after the judge noted that Guo had shown willingness to tamper with judicial proceedings via social media posts
- The fugitive tycoon, once thought to be among the richest people in China, left in 2014 during a crackdown on corruption that ensnared individuals close to him
A wealthy Chinese businessman who left China a decade ago and became a US-based outspoken critic of his homeland’s Communist Party went on trial in New York on Wednesday for what prosecutors say were multiple frauds that cheated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide of over US$1 billion.
Guo Wengui, 57, once believed to be among the richest people in China, sat with his lawyers in Manhattan federal court as jury selection began for a trial projected to last seven weeks.
He pleaded not guilty after his March 2023 arrest for what prosecutors say was a five-year fraud scheme that began in 2018.
Judge Analisa Torres told dozens of prospective jurors crowded into a courtroom that they were being considered for a jury that will decide the fate of 12 criminal charges alleging that Guo operated four fraudulent investment schemes.
By lunchtime, half of them had been dismissed after they provided reasons a lengthy trial would create a hardship.
Still, it was likely that opening statements would occur on Thursday.
