Home Casino Leads to Jail Sentence for Notorious Chinese Celeb
8 years ago11 Sep
A Beijing district court yesterday sentenced 24-years old Guo Meimei to 5 years imprisonment for ārunning a casinoā, after her confession last year to organising Texas Holdāem games for guests in her own home. A fine of almost $8000 was also levied.
Ms Guo had also admitted on television to organising betting on the 2014 soccer World Cup, and her accomplice, Zhao Xiaolai, was handed a 2 year sentence and fined over $3000 at the same Doncheng District Peopleās Court.
Despite her admissions on television, Guo pleaded
not guilty at her short trial, claiming:āI should not have participated in gamblingā she said, ābut I donāt think my actions constituted the crime of running a casino.ā
The offences were alleged to have taken place between 2011 and 2014, according to The New York Times
Gambling is illegal on the Chinese mainland, and although Guo was in Macao when she declared on television that she āloved to gambleā, her poker parties had been held at āan upscale apartment buildingā in eastern Beijing.
Macao is a former Portuguese colony, now a Chinese territory where gambling is legal ā the PokerStars Macao Poker Cup is currently taking place there.
Guo became a figure of hate for many Chinese when she claimed to be the commercial general manager of the Red Cross Society of China, while simultaneously flaunting her lavish lifestyle which included Lamborghini and Maserati cars and āa closet full of Hermes bagsā.
She later withdrew her claims of representing the Red Cross, but her public reputation ā and that of the Red Cross Society ā had been āirreparably tarnishedā. Guo told the court yesterday āāI know Iāve made mistakes,ā but the public mood was not so forgiving.
āThe dregs of society,ā was Di Yingchenās pronouncement on ā The Paperā website, adding, āThey could have given her a heaviersentence.ā
There were people willing to defend Guo, however, with one online forum member of
ifeng.chat stating:
āThere are officials, we donāt even know how much theyāve taken,ā adding, āher little bit of stuff, itās trivial.ā
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