United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
Authorities arrested two Long Island residents on Monday over a $27 million investment fraud scheme that capitalized on their attendance at a 2017 fundraiser with then-President Donald Trump. Prosecutors allege that Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo Wang convinced investors to dump money into a fake effort to build a private educational institution, purporting that it was supported by top politicians. The defendants also promised their victims, all of whom were foreign nationals, green cards and contact with the political elite. A criminal complaint alleges that Li and Wang charged 12 of their victims $93,000 each to attend a June 2017 Trump fundraiser, and then acted as “straw donors” to funnel that money into $600,000 worth of illegal political contributions to the committee that hosted the event. They allegedly used a photo of Li, Trump, and Melania Trump taken at the fundraiser to solicit investments in the educational institution.
