New York woman who duped investors, funneled money to 2017 Trump fundraiser pleads guilty

A New York businesswoman has pleaded guilty in connection with 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 2017 fundraiser for President Donald Trump during his first term.

Sherry Xue Li, 48, of Oyster Bay, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court on Long Island to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws. She faces up to 20 years in prison and is set to be sentenced on Dec. 5.

Her lawyer, Kevin Keating, declined to comment on the plea and the charges Wednesday. She has been detained since her arrest in 2022.

Li’s co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, pleaded guilty to similar charges in March 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Prosecutors say the scheme went on for nearly a decade. Li and Wang coaxed investors, many of whom were from China, into contributing $500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with a false promise to guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the U.S., authorities said. They used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewelry, housing, vacation travel and upscale dining, officials said.

Li and Wang also sold investors access to U.S. politicians at fundraisers and used the proceeds to illegally contribute millions of dollars to U.S. political campaigns and committees. The campaigns and committees were unaware of the scheme, and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing were lodged against them, prosecutors said.

On June 28, 2017, Trump attended a fundraiser for his 2020 reelection bid at his hotel in Washington. Prosecutors said Li and Wang charged each of the 12 foreign nationals $93,000 for admission to the event, then used the funds to make illegal contributions in their names totaling $600,000 to the fundraising committee hosting the event.

Li took a photograph with Trump and his wife, Melania, at the event and would later use it to solicit donations to the fake development project, prosecutors said.

Other investors or prospects also received brochures featuring Li or Wang with Trump and other politicians, including Democratic then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, prosecutors said.

Li and Wang, who are naturalized U.S. citizens, also contributed millions of dollars to other federal, state and local campaigns, which were not identified by authorities.

“Li defrauded more than 150 victims in the United States and abroad through years of lies and deception and sought to profit by selling access to the democratic process,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country — fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence.”

As part of her plea agreement, Li agreed to forfeit $31.5 million and three properties.