Oyster Bay woman pleads guilty in $30 million fraud scheme

Oyster Bay resident Sherry Xue Li pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including money laundering conspiracy, among others, as part of a scheme to create a fictitious development project with which to defraud investors in a Central Islip courthouse today.

In total, the 53-year-old managed to steal $30 million from hundreds of individuals, including by using photos of herself with President Donald Trump and other high-ranking government officials.

Li, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, and her co-conspirator, fellow Oyster Bay resident Lianbo Wang, lied to potential investors, many of them Chinese, that by investing in their project, the duo could obtain permanent residence status in exchange. The development project itself was an imagined private school in Sullivan County, New York called the Thompson Education Center.

“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,” wrote United States Attorney Nocella in a release announcing the guilty plea. “In doing so, she attempted to corrupt a fundamental institution in this country—fair and transparent elections free from unlawful foreign influence.Our Office is committed to investigating and prosecuting predatory fraudsters who steal victims’ hard-earned money.”

Wang pleaded guilty in 2024 to engaging in unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy to defraud the United States, and was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment.

This is a developing story.