Central Islip, New York — A New York businesswoman was sentenced Friday to nine years in federal prison Financial planner which stole more than $30 million from foreign investors and transferred some of the stolen funds to US political campaigns, including a fundraiser for President Donald Trump.
Sherri Xue Li was also ordered to forfeit $31.5 million, as well as property in three locations, and to compensate her victims.
The 54-year-old Oyster Bay resident, who has been detained since her arrest in 2022, He pleaded guilty last year Charged with money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws.
A co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, also pleaded guilty to similar charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Lee’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday, but U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said she “faces justice for her satirical schemes.”
“It peddled false promises and outright lies to many investors and lined their pockets while they suffered huge losses,” he said in a statement.
Prosecutors say that for years, Li and Wang convinced investors, many of them from China, to contribute $500,000 each to a bogus development project, with a false promise that it would guarantee them legal permanent resident status in the United States.
Instead, the two, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, lodging, vacation travel and fine dining, according to prosecutors.
They say Li and Wang also sold investors access to US politicians and used the proceeds to make illegal contributions to US political campaigns and committees.
In one case, the two charged investors $93,000 each for participating in a 2017 Trump fundraiser, then used the money to make illegal donations totaling $600,000 to the committee hosting the event.
Prosecutors said Lee took a photo with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event and used the photo to raise funds for the fake development project.
Prosecutors said the campaigns and committees were unaware of the scheme, and no charges of criminal wrongdoing were brought against them.