The Asian financial crisis crippled businesses worldwide and Go wasn’t spared. Because he had incurred debt going into a diversification spree in the early to mid-90s, Go was left to pay for borrowings that had doubled because of the effects of the crisis. OCBC closed on Valentine’s Day 1998, and by October that year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board ordered the bank’s closure, placing it under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). OCBC had the dubious honor of being the first bank that became the victim of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It wouldn’t be the last.

Go and some of his associates would eventually face charges of fraud. In 2021, he was convicted of seven counts of estafa and sentenced to imprisonment for a minimum of four years and two months to a maximum of 19 years, for each of the seven criminal cases. He and his co-accused were also ordered to pay the PDIC P159 million.