May 24 (Reuters) - Exiled Chinese businessman Miles Guo

scammed his followers out of more than $1 billion after Chinese

authorities seized his property, a federal prosecutor said on

Friday as Guo's fraud trial began in New York.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Fergenson told jurors that

Guo, who was a real estate developer in China and moved to New

York, amassed an online following through videos criticizing the

Chinese government.

After authorities in China and Hong Kong seized his assets

in response, Guo started pitching fraudulent investments to his

followers, Fergenson said.

"Miles Guo ran a simple con on a grand scale. He lived a

billionaire's lifestyle using money he stole from people he

tricked and cheated," Fergenson said.

The Manhattan jury of 12 will weigh allegations that Guo

used his prolific online presence and hundreds of thousands of

followers to bring in funds he spent on himself and his family.

Guo, who is known by several names including Guo Wengui,

Miles Kwok and Ho Wan Kwok, has been jailed in Brooklyn since

his March 2023 arrest.

Guo's attorney Sabrina Shroff said in her opening statement

that his businesses were legitimate, and that his aim was to

build a movement against the Chinese Communist Party.

"It was not a bet, it was not a scheme. It was not a con. It

was none of those things," she said.

Many of Guo's actions, such as owning multiple phones and

bank accounts, were common-sense protections as the Chinese

government continued to try to disrupt his work in the U.S.,

Shroff said.

The defense lawyer also urged jurors not to judge Guo for

the way he spent the huge fortune he had amassed through real

estate.

Starting in 2018, prosecutors say Guo touted financial

opportunities in Mandarin-language online videos, offering

investments in his media company, a purported cryptocurrency

venture, and a farm loan program, as well as membership in what

was billed as an exclusive club offering concierge services.

Prosecutors said Guo stole from the funds to buy a New

Jersey mansion, a yacht, several luxury cars and other

extravagances, including two $36,000 mattresses.

Guo faces 12 counts of fraud, racketeering, conspiracy and

money laundering. The trial before U.S. District Judge Analisa

Torres could stretch into July.

The Beijing critic has been a business associate of former

U.S. President Donald Trump's onetime adviser Steve Bannon.

It was on Guo's $37 million yacht, the Lady May, where

Bannon was arrested in 2020 in a separate fraud case. That case

ended when Trump pardoned Bannon in the waning hours of his

presidency. Bannon had pleaded not guilty.

Guo left China in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown

under President Xi Jinping. Officials there accused Guo of

bribery, money laundering and other crimes, which he has denied.

After moving to the United States, Guo bought a home in the

luxury Sherry-Netherland building on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue,

and drew ardent fans through his criticism of China's

government, including by accusing leaders of corruption.

At Beijing's request, the global police organization

Interpol in April 2017 issued a "red notice" for Guo's arrest.

Shroff said in court on Friday that the notice was an

attempt to silence Guo after he gave an interview with U.S.

government-backed Voice of America.