NEW YORK – A federal court on February 27 sentenced Sherry Xue Li to nine years in prison for money laundering and obstruction of campaign finance laws. The sentence comes after a scheme to defraud investors out of more than $30 million funneling money through the “Thompson Education Center,” which ultimately did not come to fruition.

Li and her co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, proposed the Thompson Education Center in the Town of Thompson and Town of Fallsburg that was set to be a private educational institution. Both Li and Wang pled guilty, and Wang was sentenced in 2024 to five years’ imprisonment.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York, Li and Wang falsely promised investors that their investments would guarantee them resident status in the U.S. 

“Li orchestrated an elaborate fraud to steal tens of millions of dollars from more than 150 victims around the world,” stated United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr.

The portion of the invested capital Li and Wang spent on the Thompson Education Center project was used merely to create and perpetuate the fiction that it was a viable development project.

For example, they hired contractors, engineers and other professionals to create plans and perform minor work on the site, which was on 573 acres located off of Route 17 near Rock Hill. 

In furtherance of their scheme, they also acted as “straw donors” for foreign nationals to unlawfully contribute to campaigns supporting politicians, the press release states. In some cases, they used the education center project funds to make political contributions and gain access to political events. 

They used photos taken at those events, including one of Li and President Donald Trump, to further solicit investments into the education center. 

The land where the proposed project would have been went to county tax foreclosure auction in 2024.