Fraud Case Against Rich Exile Who Riled Beijing Goes to Jury

The fate of Guo Wengui, the exiled Chinese billionaire whose opposition to the Chinese Communist Party made him a darling of the American right, rests with a Manhattan jury after his fraud and money-laundering trial came to a close on Thursday.

Mr. Guo is accused of running a criminal enterprise that defrauded investors of more than $1 billion through various schemes — club memberships, cryptocurrencies, a sale of private shares in his media company — and using the money to lead a lavish lifestyle.

Federal prosecutors said the fraudulent proceeds helped pay for a mansion in New Jersey, a Lamborghini roadster and a $100 million investment in a hedge fund. During the five-week trial, they put forth a parade of witnesses, including former employees and investors, and presented bank records and invoices.

“This was a scheme, this was a con, this was a fraud,” Ryan Finkel, a prosecutor, said in his three-hour closing argument on Wednesday. Mr. Guo, he said, “lied to take other people’s money.”

Lawyers for Mr. Guo, who did not take the stand, argued that his businesses were legitimate and that the money he had collected was deployed in a crusade to end Communist rule in China. His various efforts included running a Chinese-language streaming site and a Twitter-like social media platform, both of which were popular with fellow exiles opposed to Beijing.

“The government wants you to believe that there was an enterprise here,” Sidhardha Kamaraju, one of Mr. Guo’s lawyers, said in closing remarks. “You know what, they’re right, but it’s not a racketeering enterprise. It’s a political one.”