New York woman who duped investors and funneled money to Trump fundraiser gets 9 years in prison

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CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A New York businesswoman was sentenced Friday to nine years in federal prison over a financial scheme that ripped off more than $30 million from foreign investors and funneled some of the stolen money into 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 at three locations, and to make restitution to her victims.

The 54-year-old Oyster Bay resident, who has been detained since her arrest in 2022, pleaded guilty last year to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws.

Her co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, also pleaded guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Li’s lawyer didn’t 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 stuffed her pockets while they suffered devastating losses,” he said in a statement.

Prosecutors say Li and Wang for years convinced investors, many of them from China, into contributing $500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with a false promise that it would guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the U.S.

Instead, the two, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel and upscale dining, according to prosecutors.

They say Li and Wang also sold investors access to U.S. politicians and used the proceeds to make illegal contributions to U.S. political campaigns and committees.

In one instance, the two charged investors $93,000 each for admission to a 2017 Trump fundraiser, then used the money to make illegal donations totaling $600,000 to the committee hosting the event.

Li even took a photograph with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event, and used the image to solicit donations to the fake development project, prosecutors said.

The campaigns and committees were unaware of the scheme, and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing were lodged against them, prosecutors said.