Trump scores big with ‘China City’ developer
White House policy could affect projects of one of top donors
Sherry Li, a Long Island businesswoman who proposed a sprawling Chinese Disneyland in the Catskill Mountains, is far from a prominent figure in national politics.
But she and a business associate have emerged as some of the year’s biggest financial backers of President Trump. Late last month, Li and Lianbo Wang, described in federal election filings as her corporate board member, donated a combined $600,000 to Trump Victory, the fundraising committee the president established with the Republican National Com-
mittee to attract high-dollar contributors.
Li is pursuing the development of a higher-education center on the property she controls in rural New York. Her business plans could intersect with the policies of the Trump administration on everything from immigration to the regulation of for-profit colleges.
Li did not respond this week to several interview requests about her political giving. Attempts to reach Wang also were unsuccessful.
Li, the mastermind of the ambitious development project, has not been shy about touting her access to Trump and key players in his orbit.
Li, who donated more than $32,000 to the Republican National Committee in October before Trump’s election victory, issued four news releases in January promoting her ties to Trump. She chronicled her attendance at Trump’s inauguration, a black-tie inaugural ball, an invitation-only reception to honor White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and a pre-inaugural dinner with “select Cabinet appointees … to have an intimate policy discussion.”
White House officials referred questions about Li to the Republican National Committee. RNC officials said Li had no special access to administration officials at any donor events associated with the Trump Victory account.
“We’re always grateful for contributions, both large and small,” RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Jancek said.
‘CHINA CIT Y’ Li has donated to politicians before this year, but not on this scale. New York state records show she contributed $55,000 to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, when he sought re-election in 2014.
This year, she gave more than $47,000 to the committee working to keep the House of Representatives in Republican hands and $5,400 to its chairman, Rep. Steve Stivers, R- Ohio, Federal Election Commission records show.
RNC officials said Li’s donations to Trump Victory soared because she bought event tickets for other attendees. Indeed, one Li news release noted the presence of Thompson Education Center board member “Mike Wang ... and fellow associates” at the reception honoring Priebus.
Li first attracted headlines with her bold plan in 2013 to build what she called a “China City of America” nestled in the foothills of the Catskills. The $6 billion plan included a school, villas, commercial offices, an exhibition hall, a retail mail, an amusement park and a Chinese “kung fu and sports park.”
As initially envisioned, the development would have drawn thousands of wealthy Chinese investors to rural New York through the EB-5 visa program, which provides a path to permanent U.S. residency for foreign investors and their close relatives if they invest at least $500,000 and create at least 10 jobs in rural areas or communities with high unemployment. The investment requirement jumps to $1 million for projects in urban areas with stronger economies.
Proponents said the program helped drive about $19 billion in foreign investment into the U.S. economy since 2008.
Several scandals, including the guilty plea this year of a Seattle developer who defrauded hundreds of Asian investors seeking green cards, prompted calls to overhaul or end the 27-year-old program.
David North, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, has criticized the EB-5 program and wrote a paper in 2013 that singled out Li’s original China City proposal as a “grandiose” plan unlikely to succeed.
“I think it’s immoral to sell green cards, which lead to citizenship, to anybody,” North told USA TODAY this week. “It attracts all sorts of bizarre and controversial characters.”
Although Trump signed a spending bill that includes language reauthorizing the program through September, the administration “is evaluating wholesale reform of the EB-5 program to ensure that the program is used as intended,” White House spokesman Michael Short said in an email.
NEW PROJECT Li’s news releases do not discuss her federal policy priorities, but her latest project also is aimed at Chinese investment. Her new plan focuses on a higher-education center, set among about 570 acres, that will house 2,500 students and create 30,000 jobs, according to promotional materials.
The refashioned project, dubbed the Thompson Education Center, is undergoing preliminary planning reviews by officials in Thompson, N.Y., a town of roughly 15,000 about 90 miles northwest of New York City.
Documents filed by her company with the planning board do not detail the investment strategy or whether EB-5 visas remain the core funding vehicle. John Privitera, an Albany, N.Y., lawyer who represents Li before planning officials, did not respond to interview requests.
Homeland Security officials said privacy rules bar them from releasing information about Li and whether she seeks EB-5 support for her project.
Marc Baez, CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, said his group supports the education center. “We’re behind a project that will bring in a substantial number of jobs,” he said.
The smaller-scale plan has drawn the ire of environmentalists, whose opposition helped stall the first project. Paula Medley of the Basha Kill Area Association argued that the development would hurt a watershed that flows into the Delaware River.