An Oyster Bay woman has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for orchestrating a nearly decade-long, $30 million investment fraud scheme and unlawfully funneling foreign money into U.S. political campaigns.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Sherry Xue Li, 54, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Central Islip to 108 months in prison for money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws. She was also ordered to forfeit $31.5 million, surrender three properties and pay restitution to victims in the same amount.
Federal prosecutors said Li and her co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, 49, also of Oyster Bay, defrauded more than 150 investors out of at least $31.5 million through a fictitious development project in Sullivan County known as the Thompson Education Center. Many of the victims were foreign nationals in the People’s Republic of China who were promised that $500,000 investments would guarantee them lawful permanent residency in the United States through the EB-5 visa program.
Authorities said no investor ever received a green card through the project, and the promised initial public offering never materialized.
Instead, prosecutors said the pair transferred investor funds through a network of company bank accounts and spent the money on personal expenses including luxury travel, jewelry, housing, upscale dining and political donations. A portion of the funds was used to create the appearance that the development project was legitimate, including hiring contractors and producing architectural plans to show prospective investors.
In addition to the fraud, Li and Wang admitted to acting as “straw donors” to funnel foreign-sourced money into U.S. political campaigns. Prosecutors said they charged foreign nationals for access to political fundraisers and then made contributions in their own names, violating federal campaign finance laws.
In one instance, the pair charged 12 foreign nationals $93,000 each to attend a June 28, 2017 fundraiser with the then-President of the United States. Prosecutors said Li and Wang used those funds to make $600,000 in contributions in their own names to the joint fundraising committee hosting the event. At the time, they were the largest contributors to the committee, which was unaware of the scheme. According to Newsday, Li used a photograph of herself with President Trump to mislead victims about political support for the fraudulent education center.
Wang previously pleaded guilty in 2024 to unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy to defraud the United States and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Li pleaded guilty in July 2025.
