Billionaire Chinese National Sentenced For Straw Donor Campaign Contribution Scheme And Other Frauds

Qin pleaded guilty to the charges in March 2024. As part of his plea, the defendant consented to abandonment of his fraudulently obtained LPR status and removal from the United States immediately after the sentencing. Qin has been incarcerated since his arrest seven months ago on October 2, 2023.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), announced the sentence.

As set forth in court filings and facts presented at the plea proceeding, between December 2021 and December 2022, Qin agreed to reimburse other individuals who made contributions on his behalf to the campaign committees for a candidate for a New York City-wide political office, a member of the United States House of Representatives for a congressional district in the Eastern District of New York and candidate for a House of Representatives seat in a Rhode Island congressional district. During the scheme, straw donors made approximately $11,600 in contributions on Qin’s behalf, which caused the campaign committees to file false contribution reports with the Federal Election Commission in 2022.

Additionally, as part of his plea Qin admitted that, in April 2019, he filed a false application for LPR status with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. In the application, Qin falsely swore, under penalty of perjury, that he had never used another name. In fact, in 2008, a PRC government official provided Qin with the alias “Muk Lam Li” and between 2008 and the filing of Qin’s LPR application, Qin obtained identification documents, including a Hong Kong identification card, a PRC identification card and a Hong Kong passport in the name of the Li alias, which contained Qin’s photograph, but a date of birth different than Qin’s. Around September 2017, Qin used the Li alias to transfer more than $5 million from the PRC to a United States bank account, a portion of which was used to purchase a luxury Manhattan apartment, where Qin resided.

Qin also pleaded guilty to engaging in interstate travel to fraudulently obtain a Florida driver’s license. In December 2020, Qin travelled from New York to Florida and applied for a driver’s license at Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (“FLHSMV”). At the time of his travel, Qin was a resident of Old Westbury, Long Island and Manhattan, but he signed an application stating that it was “true and correct” that he resided at an address in Miami, where he had never lived. To bolster this false assertion, Qin presented FLHSMV officials with fake bank and credit card statements bearing the name “Hui Quin” and the false Miami address. After FLHSMV issued Qin a Florida driver’s license, he presented it to banks and a motor vehicle insurer as identification.

The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Bradley T. King and Adam Toporovsky are in charge of the prosecution.