MANHATTAN (CN) — Guo Wengui, the exiled Chinese businessman accused of defrauding his followers out of more than $1 billion, rested his defense case in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday after eliciting testimony from an unlikely source: ex-Justice Department employee George Higginbotham.
Higginbotham was a Senior Congressional Affairs Specialist for the Justice Department from 2016 to 2018, when he pleaded guilty for a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of foreign interests. He told the court Tuesday that he worked with Malaysian fugitive Jho Low on a failed bid to influence the Trump administration to get Guo extradited back to China.
Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a founding member of the hip hop group Fugees who was convicted in 2023 of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., was involved too, Higginbotham said. He testified that Michel was the one who brought the scheme to his attention in the first place.
“There was an opportunity that could potentially be lucrative to us,” Higginbotham recalled Michel telling him. “That was the extradition of Guo Wengui.”
Guo, also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo, is standing trial on charges that he scammed his supporters with phony investment opportunities related to his anti-communist advocacy.
Guo holds that his activism made him a target of the Chinese Communist Party, which he claims is retaliating against him through, among other things, these criminal proceedings in the Southern District of New York.
Higginbotham was no follower of Guo’s. He wasn’t even aware of Guo’s many scrutinized businesses, including the video streaming service GTV — which he started alongside Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon — and luxury membership service G CLUBS, until Tuesday’s court proceedings.
But Higginbotham knew Guo was a wanted fugitive and that he could make millions if he helped lobby the Trump administration to extradite the Chinese dissident.
“Jho Low was funneling tens of millions of dollars into the U.S. in accounts owned by Mr. Michel,” Higginbotham said Tuesday. “Mr. Michel paid me for my services.”
Higginbotham said Low spent around $100 million for his efforts to extradite Guo, which ultimately were unsuccessful and eventually led to the indictments of Michel and Higginbotham.
His testimony was short, lasting barely an hour and focusing solely on the supposed extradition attempt. Guo’s defense attorneys hope Higginbotham’s time on the stand will speak to the lengths the CCP is willing to go to silence their client.
The defense lawyers appear to be walking a thin line, however. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres already stipulated that they can’t call into question the validity of these proceedings or suggest the Justice Department is currently compromised by Chinese actors who want to lock Guo up.
Guo’s attorneys have insisted they’re not making those claims with Higginbotham’s testimony.
“For the umpteenth time, the defense reiterates that it does not intend to argue to the jury that the prosecution team in this case or the U.S. Attorney’s Office in general are acting as agents of a foreign power,” Guo’s lawyer Sidhardha Kamaraju wrote in a letter to the court last week. “But that is entirely different from arguing that the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to silence Mr. Guo through a number of different methods, including by forcing investors to complain falsely to U.S. courts and regulators about Mr. Guo’s conduct.”
Just to be safe, prosecutors on Tuesday pressed Higginbotham on his relationship to the Justice Department’s probe into this fraud case against Guo. He clarified that he had “zero involvement, no involvement at all” with the proceedings.
The defense rested after Higginbotham was excused from the stand. Its case, which largely focused on the purported threats Guo faced from the CCP, lasted just one week.
Guo also elicited testimony from investors who were pleased with their decision to dump cash into his business ventures, likely an effort to counteract the numerous government witnesses who testified that Guo stole their money. Guo insists these witnesses are bucking to Chinese pressure.
Still, the topic at issue in this case is Guo’s spending. Prosecutors argued that his use of investor funds to buy luxury cars, a yacht and a New Jersey mansion wasn’t necessary for his protection from the CCP — it was fraud.
Attorneys will deliver closing arguments on Wednesday before the case is handed off to the Manhattan jury.
If convicted, Guo could face a more than 200-year prison sentence on charges of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, international money laundering and other counts. He could also be extradited back to China, where he is wanted on accusations of rape, kidnapping and bribery.