Woman pleads guilty in $30M scam that sold access to Trump fundraiser, fake U.S. residency
Sherry Xue Li pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip, Long Island, to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Federal Election Commission's administration of campaign finance.
The Oyster Bay resident "orchestrated a nearly decade-long scheme to defraud investors in a fictitious development project out of more than $30 million," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.
"As part of the scheme, Li and her co-defendant Lianbo Wang falsely promised those investors that their investments would guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the United States," the office said.
Li and Wang also sold foreign investors access to American politicians at "fundraisers by collecting foreign-sourced funds from them and unlawfully contributing those funds to U.S. political campaigns and committees," the office said.
The scam duped investors into putting money into a fictitious development project in Sullivan County, New York, called the Thompson Education Center, or the TEC Project. Many of the victims were Chinese nationals.
One of fundraisers was a June 28, 2017, fundraiser for Trump, then in his first term as president. Li and Wang charged 12 foreign nationals $93,000 per person for admission to that event and then made $600,000 in political contributions to the committee that hosted the fundraiser, according to a criminal complaint.
Li, Wang, and their foreign national guests took photographs with Trump and the duo then "used a photograph of Li and the President taken at the June 28, 2017 Fundraiser to solicit investments in the TEC Project," prosecutors said.
It is illegal for foreign money to be used to contribute to U.S. federal political campaigns. Li and Wang were both born and raised in China, but are naturalized U.S. citizens.
The Trump campaign was not accused of wrongdoing in the case.
"Li defrauded more than 150 victims in the United States and abroad through years of lies and deception and sought to profit by selling access to the democratic process," said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella.
"In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country — fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence," Nocella said.
Li faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison when she is sentenced on Dec. 5.
She agreed to forfeit $31.5 million, as well as property at three locations.
Wang pleaded guilty in 2024 to engaging in unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
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