Worst personal bankruptcy ever — the yearslong hell that happens when a billionaire says he's worth $3,850

Mile Guo on the balcony of his New York apartment facing Central Park in 2017.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

Miles Guo once controlled some 500 bank accounts holding hundreds of millions of dollars. He flaunted his yachts, mansions, and sports cars in YouTube videos.

Yet when Guo filed for bankruptcy in 2022, he proclaimed himself a pauper. Even as he spent $18 million renovating his Gilded Age mansion in New Jersey, Guo swore in a bankruptcy filing that he was worth essentially nothing: just $3,850.