For about a week, prosecutors said, Xin Guang Guo seemed to be making progress on his plot to have his business partner killed.
Guang Guo had reached out to a potential hit man, prosecutors said. And he’d agreed to pay the man $30,000 to carry out the crime.
For that price, prosecutors said, the hit man also agreed to kill a second person: The business partner’s paramour.
And on Oct. 6, 2025, prosecutors said, Guang Guo met the hit man in North Philadelphia and gave him a $2,500 deposit.
The problem, prosecutors said, is that Guang Guo’s purported hit man was working as a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — and telling federal authorities about everything Guang Guo was asking him to do.
In federal court Monday, Guang Guo, 48, admitted his role in the scheme, pleading guilty to murder-for-hire offenses. He is likely to face a lengthy prison sentence.
During a brief hearing before U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III, Guang Guo, a native of China, said little beyond answering routine legal questions. And a variety of questions about his case remained unanswered.
Prosecutors did not name either person he sought to target, and did not say in court documents why he wanted them dead. They also did not say which business he and his partner owned, except to say it involved placing gambling machines in shops in North Philadelphia.
Still, in court documents, they said Guang Guo took a variety of steps over the course of a week to put his plan into effect: Calling and texting his hit man, providing photos of his desired targets, and giving the hit man information including the victims’ addresses, cars, and license plate numbers.
And after paying the $2,500 deposit, prosecutors said, Guang Guo also made a harrowing request, saying he wanted photographic proof that his victims were dead before he would pay the rest of the balance.
Guang Guo made that statement while meeting the purported hit man inside a car that was an undercover ATF vehicle, prosecutors said.
Moments later, prosecutors said, ATF agents arrested Guang Guo. He’s been in custody ever since.
Bartle is scheduled to sentence him in July. Guang Guo faces the possibility of up to two decades behind bars.