{"id":1561094,"date":"2022-07-19T12:12:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T16:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561094"},"modified":"2022-07-19T12:19:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T16:19:15","slug":"ny-residents-with-ties-to-china-arrested-over-alleged-27-million-green-card-fraud-selling-access-to-prominent-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-residents-with-ties-to-china-arrested-over-alleged-27-million-green-card-fraud-selling-access-to-prominent-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Residents With Ties to China Arrested Over Alleged $27 Million Green Card Fraud, Selling Access to Prominent Politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fny-residents-with-ties-to-china-arrested-over-alleged-27-million-green-card-fraud-selling-access-to-prominent-politicians%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1561094&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-nyc\">New York<\/a> residents have been arrested for allegedly defrauding $27 million out of investors, in part by promising them access to prominent politicians such as former President Donald Trump, the Justice Department announced on July 18.<\/p>\n<p>The two individuals, Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo Wang, also known as Mike Wang, have perpetuated a near-decade-long scheme from as early as May 2013 to lure investors into a fictitious project to develop a private educational institution where Li served as the president, according to a complaint unsealed on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The institution, called Thompson Education Center or the TEC Project in New York\u2019s Sullivan County, became a front for Li and others to siphon funds from over 150 victim investors, according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p>Through the TEC Project, 50-year-old Li and 45-year-old Wang, along with co-conspirators, raised $16.5 million from investors who were promised a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-green-card\">green card<\/a> in return for a $500,000 investment through the EB-5 investment visa program, as well as $11 million from stock investors on the project\u2019s IPO they were assured to take place.<\/p>\n<p>Li and others misappropriated and laundered at least $2 million of these funds, and spent at least another $2.5 million on \u201cvarious personal expenses with no clear business purpose,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p>The personal expenses include clothing, accessories, jewelry, housing, vacation travel, high-end dining, and political contributions to prominent U.S. officials.<\/p>\n<p>Li and Wang were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing federal administration of campaign finance laws. Both are naturalized U.S. citizens originally from China.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Attorney Breon Peace requested the two to be held without bail, noting \u201csignificant flight risks\u201d due to the seriousness of the offenses and the \u201coverwhelming evidence of their guilt.\u201d The two also have \u201csignificant and longstanding ties\u201d to China, and the United Arab Emirates in Wang\u2019s case, and neither country has an extradition treaty with the United States if they fled, he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Selling Access to the Former President<\/h2>\n<p>Li and Wang used the money they received to fund political contributions to gain access to political events and take photographs with the elected officials, prosecutors alleged. Such photographs in turn became their bait to attract more investment in the TEC Project.<\/p>\n<p>The pair and 12 foreign guests attended a June 28, 2017, fundraising event and took photos with the then-president, the filing said. The foreign guests\u201411 Chinese nationals and one Singaporean\u2014were charged an admission fee of $93,000 each. The pair then used the funds to unlawfully make a $600,000 campaign donation to the Republican National Committee, which hosted the event, the Justice Department said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3693178\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/02\/11\/trump-2-1200x816.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3693178\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/02\/11\/trump-2-1200x816.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania\" width=\"640\" height=\"435\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Outgoing President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania arrive at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Edelman\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>A photo of Li smiling side by side with Trump and then-First Lady Melania Trump was later featured in a TEC marketing brochure, the court document said. Wang told one Chinese national in 2018 that they could pay $220,000 if they wanted to meet the president and members of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, Wang sent to a group chat a photo of a Chinese national and Trump at an August 2019 fundraiser, and told them that they had arranged \u201ceverything\u201d for the two\u2019s meeting, the filing said. One person in the chat invested over $200,000 in the TEC Project about two weeks later.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Chinese Disneyland\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Around 2011, Li and Wang announced plans to build a Chinese cultural theme park named China City of America (CCOA), according to the court document. Li touted the project as a \u201cChinese Disneyland\u201d with an amusement park, mansions, business center, medical facility, college, and residential homes, with a potential to draw 1.5 million annual visitors and create 3,000 jobs.<\/p>\n<p>That proposal, the filing said, was abandoned after skepticism from local officials and residents. Li instead began promoting a vision for a for-profit university, the TEC Project.<\/p>\n<p>Despite lacking approvals from the Town of Thompson to begin construction, Li and Wang continued to assure investors that the project was on track for development, according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p>When asked for updates in 2019, Li responded by sending pictures and videos purportedly showing the project\u2019s construction, while they were in fact footage of a single-family residence that Li was building in the nearby town of Fallsburg.<\/p>\n<p>Neither the Fallsburg residence nor the Thompson property finished any structure as of March 2022, the prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<h2>False Green Card Promises<\/h2>\n<p>None of the EB-5 investors have received a temporary or permanent green card to date, the complaint noted. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that oversees the EB-5 project had instead been issuing notices to investors of TEC Project since March 2017 that it may deny the green card requests \u201cbecause USCIS did not find TEC\u2019s business plan credible,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>According to prosecutors, TEC Project promised to construct two college classroom buildings, two college student activity centers, a sports center, a community center, and six student dormitories that involve 132 units of townhouse-style housing, 200 two-bedroom apartments, and 50 three-bedroom apartments.<\/p>\n<p>The USCIS questioned whether such a plan was feasible in Sullivan County, a \u201crural county with no infrastructure available for high-density projects,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot having a plan to address basic infrastructure needs of a project of this size in a rural county provides little to no credibility to both the business plan and the job creation estimates,\u201d the USCIS wrote in the notice, the complaint said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4606376\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-147891694-1200x800-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-4606376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-147891694-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Small U.S. Town Struggles Through Long-Term Economic Malaise\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4606376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-147891694-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Small U.S. Town Struggles Through Long-Term Economic Malaise\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A movie screen stands overgrown at the Mountain Drive-In in Liberty, New York, on July 5, 2012. (John Moore\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>At least 26 investors in the TEC Project received such notices, with 16 of them\u00a0ultimately leading to the denial of their green card petitions.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, Li and Wang continued to solicit funds and repeatedly assured investors their investment would guarantee a green card, telling several of them they could get a green card within 9 months.<\/p>\n<p>Wang had raised concerns about their scheme, writing in one text message in July 2016: \u201cUS immigration law does not allow guarantee agreements \u2026 This is illegal,\u201d the filing shows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTens of millions of dollars came in from investors and straw donors, who expected their money would bear fruit. However, only one promise came to fruition, the access to political power,\u201d FBI assistant director-in-charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement. \u201cForeign money pollutes our immigration and democratic processes, and we must do all we can to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times has reached out Trump, the Republican National Committee, as well as Li\u2019s lawyer,\u00a0Nora Hirozawa for comments. Wang\u2019s lawyer, James Roth, couldn\u2019t be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-eva-fu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/15f130a8712a9ef5_ttl7dayQgw_WEB_EvaFu.jpg\" alt=\"Eva Fu\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>China Reporter<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bio\">Eva Fu is a New York-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on U.S.-China relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Contact Eva at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:eva.fu@epochtimes.com\">eva.fu@epochtimes.com<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two New York residents have been arrested for allegedly defrauding $27 million out of investors, in part by promising them access to prominent politicians such as former President Donald Trump,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1561094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1561094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1561094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1561094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1561094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1561094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}