Woman who duped investors, funneled money to Trump fundraiser gets 9 years in prison
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A New York businesswoman was sentenced Friday to nine years in federal prison for a financial scheme that embezzled more than $30 million from foreign investors and funneled some of the stolen money to U.S. political campaigns, including a fundraiser for President Donald Trump.
Sherry Xue Li was also ordered to forfeit $31.5 million, as well as property in three locations, and make restitution to her victims.
The 54-year-old Oyster Bay resident, who has been in custody since her arrest in 2022, pleaded guilty last year to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws.
His co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, also pleaded guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Li’s attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday, but U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said she “faces justice for her cynical schemes.”
“She peddled false promises and outright lies to her many investors and lined her pockets as they suffered devastating losses,” he said in a statement.
Prosecutors say Li and Wang convinced investors, many from China, for years to contribute $500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with the false promise that it would guarantee them legal permanent resident status in the United States.
Instead, the two men, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation trips and high-end meals, according to prosecutors.
They claim Li and Wang also sold investors access to U.S. politicians and used the profits to make illegal contributions to U.S. campaigns and political committees.
In one case, the two investors charged $93,000 each for admission to a Trump fundraiser in 2017, then used that money to make illegal donations totaling $600,000 to the event’s organizing committee.
Li even took a photo with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event and used the image to solicit donations for the fake development project, prosecutors said.
The campaigns and committees were unaware of the plan and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing were filed against them, prosecutors said.
