Arcadia City Councilman John Wuo faced repeated calls for his resignation at a packed September 15th meeting, where multiple USFIA victims delivered emotional testimony concerning the alleged Gemcoin scam. The gathering saw citizens directly confront Wuo, questioning his conduct and its impact on the city's reputation.
Shone Wang, a public speaker and a two-decade acquaintance of Wuo, initiated the calls for resignation. Wang described Arcadia's city council as a "quintessential Southern California democracy" where elected officials serve on a volunteer basis, not for "fame and fortune." He expressed deep regret, stating that many Arcadian Chinese Americans, including himself, had "kept silent for years" while observing Wuo's actions.
Wang accused Wuo of attempting to "white-wash his involvement" in the Gemcoin scam during a July council meeting. He noted Wuo had even sought validation from the city attorney for his conduct, showing no "mea culpa moment." While acknowledging the legal principle of "innocent until proven guilty" and the ongoing investigation into the scam, Wang argued that a "multi-million dollar lawsuit" already cast a significant shadow over Arcadia, "seriously dampening" its reputation.
He urged Wuo to step down to help restore the city's standing. Wang characterized Wuo as a "savvy businessman," not a naive individual who "inadvertently stepped out of bounds." He warned the council that if they continued to give Wuo the "benefit of the doubt by doing nothing," they would eventually echo the regret of USFIA victims: "Gee, we should have seen it coming."
A second speaker later addressed Wuo directly, calling him "a disgrace to our city." This speaker refuted Wuo's claims of ignorance about GemCoin and his assertion that the calls for resignation constituted a "political attack" ahead of an upcoming election.
USFIA, or U.S. Fine Investment Arts, had marketed itself as a company dealing in amber and other precious gems, later promoting a digital currency known as Gemcoin. Regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), eventually identified USFIA as a massive Ponzi scheme. Founder Steve Chen, also known as Ming Xu, was later arrested and charged. He defrauded investors, many from Chinese-American communities, of hundreds of millions of dollars with promises of exorbitant returns on worthless "Gemcoin" investments.
Wuo, as an elected official, reportedly appeared at promotional events for USFIA. This association, even if he claimed ignorance, lent a veneer of legitimacy to the fraudulent operation, potentially drawing in more unsuspecting investors. Federal prosecutors later secured convictions against key USFIA figures, including founder Steve Chen, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in the $147 million fraud.