Trump insiders fear pardon of Chinese ‘dissident’ who stole $1.3B

WASHINGTON — Trump administration insiders are trying to derail a possible pardon for Chinese fraudster Miles Guo — whose more than $1.3 billion in stolen funds could be returned to him if President Trump sets aside his conviction, The Post has learned.

The self-described anti-Chinese Communist Party dissident faces sentencing in New York on Jan. 20, where a federal judge is expected to order prison time and the forfeiture of his fortune, which a jury last July found Guo earned through scams while befriending and even paying Trump allies.

Sources close to and inside the administration told The Post they fear that Trump will be swayed by the fraudster’s claims of persecution by the Biden administration, which has won reprieves for many other business and political figures during Trump’s first year back in power.

Guo left China in 2014 during a corruption probe there and quickly built a new empire in the US, much of it reaped from Chinese exiles who embraced his call to band together to challenge the Chinese government and support dissidents.

Guo instead used the loot to buy a fleet of luxury cars — including a $900,000 Lamborghini, $3.5 million Ferrari and $4.4 million custom-built Bugatti — along with a $26.5 million, 50,000-square foot mansion in Mahwah, New Jersey, and a $37 million, 145-foot yacht moored in Connecticut.

Guo’s best-known Trump associate is former presidential chief strategist Steve Bannon, who signed a $1 million one-year consulting contract with Guo in August 2018. Bannon was arrested in 2020 on Guo’s yacht and the former White House chief strategist was pardoned by Trump for a separate alleged fraud soliciting private border-wall funds.

Two sources close to the intelligence community tell The Post there’s concern about the true nature of Guo’s relationship with the Chinese government — and expressed concern about the fact that his Fifth Avenue penthouse suddenly caught fire during a 2023 raid with FBI agents inside.

“Guo deserves handcuffs, not a pardon,” said a source close to the intelligence community. 

“Guo Wengui was convicted for stealing over $1 billion from innocent victims who were duped that he is a Chinese dissident. Anyone who would work to have him pardoned by President Trump is doing this out of pure self-interest,” said another source close to the administration.

A third person close to the administration said: “Miles Guo is a sketchball. I’m not sure Secret Service would even clear him to get on the White House campus.”

Guo, also known as Guo Wengui and Miles Kwok, was convicted by a Manhattan jury last July on nine of the 12 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering and racketeering. More than $630 million of his assets were seized shortly after Guo’s arrest in 2023.

Guo gained friends by being a generous “cash cow” for conservatives and even created music for Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, launched in 2019, which has become a go-to destination for leading Republicans.

Trump pardon attorney Ed Martin appeared on the “War Room” Monday, though a Guo pardon would emerge from Trump rather than within the Justice Department, where applicants technically cannot apply for a pardon before serving their sentence. People close to Bannon deny he’s pushing for clemency.

A president can issue a pardon by merely saying the word without any required review.

Victims of the sprawling fraud are concerned that they could be left with no restitution.

Florida realtor Le Zhou, who left China as a student in 1998, told The Post that he and his wife believed so strongly in Guo’s purported mission that they sold an apartment and a life insurance policy so that they could invest $150,000 with Guo’s businesses and donate $1,500 to his charity.

“He shouldn’t be pardoned because he has impacted so many people,” Zhou told The Post, calling the idea “shocking.”

“The money never went to people who needed the money, it went to purchasing his personal luxury lifestyle,” said Zhou, who had been eager to help Hong Kong protesters rebelling against Beijing’s elimination of local autonomy.  “We really suffered from that — especially mentally and financially.”

“I hope one day eventually I will get the money back,” Zhou said.

But that probably won’t happen if Trump were to issue a pardon.

“A pardon before sentencing would likely preclude entry of a forfeiture order,” said Stef Cassella, a former deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and publisher of the monthly “Money Laundering and Forfeiture Digest.”

In Guo’s case, a co-conspirator, his former chief of staff Yvette Wang, was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $1.4 billion, encompassing the proceeds of the fraud.

However, Cassella said, “if one is pardoned… the government, and hence the victims, have only one person to look to to recover the assets. If that person can’t pay, everyone is out of luck.”

Guo was convicted of assembling his wealth through a variety of scams.

According to the Justice Department, his earned $250 million in membership fees for “G|CLUBS,” which claimed to be “an exclusive, high-end membership program” and $262 million from the “Himalaya Exchange” that claimed to offer a cryptocurrency stablecoin called the Himalaya Dollar.

Prosecutors said he looted another $150 million from a group called the Himalaya Farm Alliance and misappropriated large amounts from a $452 million sale of GTV Media Group stocks.

Guo’s claims to be an opponent of Beijing — including by creating a group called the New Federal State of China — has been greeted by suspicion from fellow Chinese exiles and some people who have worked with him — though no proof has surfaced for allegations that he’s actually a Chinese informant.

A Missouri trailer park linked to Guo is mysteriously located near the airbase that’s home to America’s B-2 stealth bomber fleet, according to a recent report.

A White House official told The Post: “The White House does not comment on the existence or non-existence of pardons. The President, not anyone else, is the final decider on pardon requests.”

Guo’s attorney John Kaley did not reply to a request for comment. Bannon also did not provide comment.