Gutmann graduated from Cranbrook Boys' School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University.

[1] In 2011, two lawsuits citing Gutmann's work were filed in U.S. federal courts against Cisco Systems, alleging that its technology enabled the government of China to monitor, capture, and kill Chinese adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement.

[11] In 2014, the federal district court in San Jose dismissed the case, saying the plaintiffs failed to prove that Cisco was aware of its products being used for oppression.

[6] While widely accepted by Congress,[26] Gutmann's numbers were disputed by the Washington Post, which relied on methods assuming accurate reporting of drug production and use in China.

[36] During the 2014 Taipei City mayoral election there was controversy about what Gutmann's book, The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, published in August 2014, said about mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je, particularly that Ko had acted as an intermediary between mainland Chinese transplant hospitals and his Taiwanese patients.

A full explanation, including the actual email correspondence where Ko signed off on the story for publication, was provided by Gutmann in December.

As a result of this disclosure the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office announced on 27 August 2020 that it would not prosecute due to insufficient charges.

"[9][49] In 2021 Gutmann stated, “A woman gave a confidential interview where she described a health check in her camp followed by three women disappearing in the middle of the night over the next week.

Sometimes they even assist the persecution, as when Cisco and other technology companies devised special ways to monitor and arrest Falun Gong practitioners".

[21] Nordlinger called Gutmann's 2014 book The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem "another atom bomb".

[21] Gutmann appeared in Transmission 6–10 (2009),[55] Red Reign: The Bloody Harvest of China's Prisoners (2013),[56] Human Harvest (2014) and Hard to Believe (2015)[57] Gutmann's first book Losing the New China won the "Spirit of Tiananmen" award from the Visual Artists Guild,[58] was listed as one of The New York Sun's "Books of the Year"[59] and won the "Chan's Journalism Award".