Woman pleads guilty in $30M scam that sold access to Trump fundraiser, fake U.S. residency

The complaint and affidavit in support of an arrest warrant against Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo "Mike" Wang is photographed on Monday, July 18, 2022.Department of Justice | APA New York woman pleaded guilty Wednesday in connection with a years-long $30 million investment scam that, among other things, sold foreign nationals access to a 2017 fundraiser for President Donald Trump and a photo-op with the president.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 ject 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 mised those investors that their investments would guarantee them lawful permanent resident 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 ject in Sullivan County, New York, called the Thompson Education Center, or the TEC ject

Many of the victims were Chinese nationals

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 ject," secutors 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.Read more CNBC coverageSenate Democrats seek Jeffrey Epstein files from Trump administration through obscure lawTrump announces 25% tariff on India plus 'penalty' for trade with RussiaDOJ urges release of Epstein and Maxwell grand jury info in new filingsTrump says Friday tariff deadline 'will not be ext'Bessent to U.S. es: 'Not the end of the world' if Apr. 2 tariffs kick inTrump says Jeffrey Epstein 'stole' Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago spaEPA seeks to repeal finding that carbon dioxide emissions threaten public healthNegotiators say Trump apval needed to extend U.S.-China tariff pauseLutnick: Trump trade, tariff deals with all but China will be 'done by Friday'Trump's trade deals for 'the world' will be 'done by Friday,' but China will take longer: Lutnick"Li defrauded more than 150 victims in the United States and abroad through years of lies and deception and sought to fit by selling access to the democratic cess," 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 perty at three locations

He was sentenced to five years in prison.