A New York resident accused of running a $30 million green card scam and selling access to U.S. politicians pleaded guilty July 30.
Sherry Xue Li, 53, a China-born, naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Oyster Bay, admitted to defrauding more than 150 people who invested more than $31.5 million in her fake development project, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said.
The investors, many of whom were Chinese nationals, were promised either green cards through the EB-5 investment visa program or investment returns. None of the investors in Li’s project, the Thompson Education Center (TEC), received a temporary or permanent green card.
Li also made donations to U.S. politicians and political committees, using money from foreign victims while pretending the donations came from herself or other U.S. citizens, and she sold foreign nationals—mostly Chinese—access to events where they could take photos with elected officials, including President Donald Trump.
Li pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse in Central Islip to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Li’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 5, and she faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said. She has also agreed to forfeit $31.5 million and property at three locations.
One of Li’s accomplices, Long Island resident Lianbo “Mike” Wang, 48, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Wang, also a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the marketing director and general manager of TEC.
Another defendant, Guo Xuefeng, director of TEC’s Beijing office, was a citizen and resident of China, according to the indictment. Guo was accused of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Li first proposed in around 2011 to build a China City of America in the town of Thompson. She touted the amusement park as a “Chinese Disneyland” that could create 3,000 jobs and attract 1.5 million visitors each year.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Li and Wang spent only enough money on the TEC project to maintain the “fiction” that it was viable and “actually under construction.”
They spent funds fraudulently obtained from investors on “personal expenses including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel, upscale dining, and political contributions to prominent politicians,” the statement said.
The prosecutors said Li and Wang used political contributions to gain photo-ops with elected officials, and in turn used the photos as a marketing tool to entice more investors for the TEC project.
In one case, the pair charged 12 foreign nationals—11 Chinese and one Singaporean—$93,000 each for admission to a fundraising event with Trump on June 28, 2017. They then used a photo of Li and the president to solicit more investments.
The recipients are not accused of any wrongdoing.
