Facing a 40-day prison sentence, business lawyer Hong Guo—disbarred three times by a Law Society of B.C. tribunal—has returned to B.C. from China with the intent to sue the B.C. government.

On May 1, Guo’s application to include the B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC) and B.C. government as co-defendants in her civil litigation against two former employees of her law firm, accused of stealing $7.5 million, was granted by Justice Anita Chan in B.C. Supreme Court.

Chan’s decision marks a rare win for Guo before courts and tribunals, at least in the interim.

Guo, who once operated Richmond-based Guo Law Corporation (GLC), commenced legal action against her former bookkeeper Zixin Li, and former employee Qian Pan for allegedly stealing $7.4 million for her trust account in 2016.

A Law Society of B.C. tribunal determined Guo left pre-signed blank trust cheques at her law firm, although Guo disputes the number of such cheques she provided and contested some of the blank cheques used in the alleged theft contained forged signatures.

According to the evidence in the case, Pan went to New Westminster’s Starlight Casino and lost $5.7 million, but also cashed out $1.5 million. The pair then fled to China where Guo claims she eventually assisted Chinese authorities in arresting and imprisoning them for fraud.

Guo initially sued Li and Pan, as well as the casino and banks BMO (TSX:BMO) and CIBC (TSX:CM) for the losses she incurred, after having paid back her trust account with $4 million of insurance reimbursements and $2.6 million from personal funds gathered by family members.

Alleged thief was given green light to gamble

Now, Guo is adding BCLC as a defendant, along with the B.C. government, which is responsible for the Crown gambling company—after their refusal to return the alleged stolen funds. BCLC takes about 75 per cent of a casino’s net revenues.

At issue is how BCLC officials, according to the submitted evidence, allowed Pan to gamble away the money despite having initially been flagged and interviewed by investigators.

On Feb. 25, 2016, BCLC issued a directive which stopped further gambling by Pan given her level of gambling on that day and self-reporting as a student while having a mortgage in default.

However, the next day BCLC investigator Tom Caverly interviewed Pan. Pan told Caverly her parents were in the construction business in China and she was a shareholder in the company. However Pan did not wish to provide the name of her parents’ company and only did so in Chinese when pressed.

Chan noted Caverly’s report stated: “There is no question that Pan’s source of wealth is from her parents.”

Chan also noted Caverly stated: “Ms. Pan’s reluctance to provide her parents’ names was ‘likely due to the fact that she does not want her parents to know how much money she is spending in the casino.’”

Following the interview the directive against Pan was lifted.

Guo submits of the 15 occasions where wrongful withdrawals were made from the CIBC trust account and ultimately deposited into Pan’s Starlight account, all but the first one occurred after the directive was lifted.

In a proposed amended notice of claim, Guo asserts “the answers and explanations Pan provided to BCLC were unreasonable and would put a reasonable person on further inquiry.”

BCLC, argues Guo “knew or ought to have known” that Pan was an addicted gambler with an unverified source of funds, Chan noted.

It wasn’t until April 4, 2016 when Ross Alderson, BCLC’s director for anti-money laundering, investigations and intelligence, stopped Pan from gambling again after being contacted by BMO saying that Pan was under investigation for fraud.

While BCLC and the B.C. government argued they ought not to be listed as defendants because Pan’s actions were, contractually, between herself and the casino, Chan said: “In my view, [Guo and GLC] have shown they have a claim in unjust enrichment against the Province and BCLC that is not frivolous. At this stage, the court is not assessing the merits of the claim.”

BCLC also contended it would be prejudiced without being able to call Alderson as a witness, granted he has left the country. However, Chan agreed with Guo that BCLC did not provide evidence it had even attempted to contact Alderson.

Alderson left B.C. on sour terms with the government after calling then Attorney General David Eby a hypocrite for claiming Alderson’s whistleblowing was illegal in his 2021 testimony at the B.C. Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering.

Guo ordered to pay potential costs up front

As a result of Guo being in debt to numerous individuals and entities related to multiple instances of professional misconduct, the banks, BCLC and the B.C. government requested Guo post security for court costs if an amended claim were to move forward.

Guo claimed she had no money to pay the security.

Indeed, Chan’s ruling states Guo resides at a home in Richmond but with a mortgage now in default and foreclosure proceedings against it started by TD Bank in August 2025, with approximately $510,000 owing. There is also a certificate of judgment registered against the property by Royal International Holdings Ltd. and Nation Capital for $1,386,103.

The ruling also notes Guo still owes the law society over $180,000 in costs for multiple hearings.

However, the banks argued Guo has provided no evidence of the status of her law practice in China and her assets there. Nor has Guo shown to exhaust family assets, the defendants claimed.

Chan ultimately ordered Guo to post $150,000 for costs citing Guo’s history of not complying with orders.

Should the case proceed Chan stated she expects expert evidence to determine what cheques may have been forged. In 2024, Supreme Court of B.C. Justice Neena Sharma ruled there is not enough evidence an $887,562 cheque cashed from Guo’s trust account was forged.

Guo’s passport in lawyer’s hands

Guo is a University of Windsor law graduate and former legal specialist for the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, the executive branch of the National People’s Congress run by the Chinese Communist Party.

Guo’s once busy law practice in Richmond specialized in real estate transactions and immigration applications for wealthy Chinese clientele via the Provincial Nominee Program. She once claimed to media, prior to her 2018 Richmond mayoral run, she conducted about $600 million worth of transactions annually.

Several of those transactions resulted in claims against Guo.

On May 22, 2024 an arrest warrant was issued for Guo, who returned to China in September 2023 after being found in contempt of court by Justice Gordon Weatherill on Oct. 14, 2022 following repeated failures to produce financial documents in a separate civil case in which she is being sued by her former property investor clients Kai Ming Yu and Qing Yan, who have already won damages and costs against Guo.

Chan noted how Weatherill found Guo “swore affidavits that were rife with untruths and outright falsehoods, and I have little sympathy for her persistent and ongoing attempts to mislead the court and play the victim.”

Last December, those parties agreed to a consent order to set aside the arrest warrant on the condition Guo deliver her passport to her lawyer upon arrival at Vancouver International Airport, according to the May 1 decision.

On Dec. 15, 2025, Weatherill once again stayed the 40-day sentence, this time for one year. However the court noted that it was not making a finding that the contempt was purged, Chan noted.

Guo told Chan she had been suffering from mental health deterioration and was unable to obtain treatment in Canada. She left for China where she lived with her brother.

After self-representing herself on several occasions Guo has now obtained legal counsel from Gerald Cutler, who declined to comment on the proceedings with Business in Vancouver.

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