Chinese billionaire gets time served, leaves country after New York, Rhode Island straw donor scheme

A Chinese billionaire who pleaded guilty to funneling illegal straw donations to politicians’ campaigns in New York and Rhode Island was sentenced to prison on Thursday and quickly left the country as part of his deal with prosecutors to forfeit his green card.

Hui Qin, 56, a Chinese movie mogul with homes in Manhattan and Long Island, appeared in federal court in Central Islip, New York, and was sentenced to seven months in prison – equivalent to the time he had served in pretrial detention since his arrest . October. He was later taken to an airport and boarded a plane to an undisclosed location, his attorney said.

Qin pleaded guilty in March to illegally making campaign contributions on behalf of others, to immigration fraud and to presenting a false ID. He admitted to using his fortune to recruit and pay back people who made political donations on his behalf, starting with a 2021 race in New York City — when Mayor Eric Adams was elected.

Federal prosecutors have never named the politicians whose campaigns received the straw donations. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace’s office said they were running for political office in New York City, a U.S. representative on Long Island and a candidate for a seat in Rhode Island’s congressional district.

Prosecutors said the straw donors contributed about $11,600 to the campaigns on Qin’s behalf without the campaigns’ knowledge.

“Qin’s blatant disregard for our political and immigration systems and his deception of government authorities resulted in a felony conviction, prison sentence, and today his removal from the United States,” Peace said in a statement.

Qin’s lawyer, Henry Mazurek, said Qin boarded a plane to leave the country later in the day. He refused to say where Qin went. He said his client was looking forward to rebuilding his life.

“I have no doubt that he will soon regain prominence in the international business world, and that he has a good future ahead of him,” Mazurek said in a telephone interview. “And it’s unfortunate that the U.S. government decides he has to build that career somewhere else, because he has always been a philanthropist, a legitimate businessman who has done a lot of good here on Long Island and New York.”

Mazurek said Qin “just wanted to participate as a citizen could” in the elections but could not contribute to the candidates he supported because he was not a citizen. He said the campaigns knew nothing about the straw donor program.

Qin previously made Forbes’ list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion from his stakes in film and entertainment companies, including Honk Kong-based SMI Culture.

According to campaign finance records, Qin donated $2,000 to Adams in March 2021. Under the city’s campaign finance rules, green card holders can contribute to races and participate in the city’s generous matching fund program, which limits donations to $2,100. An attorney for Adams has said the mayor had no knowledge of the plan.

Nine months after the donation to Adams, federal prosecutors said Qin began working “to find individuals who could donate more than $10,000 in straw donor contributions” to an unnamed candidate from New York City.

Prosecutors say at least one person donated $1,000 on Qin’s behalf on December 9. The next day, Qin spoke with an unnamed co-conspirator, who told him they expected to be able to obtain up to $20,000 in straw donor contributions for the candidate.

Adams, a Democrat, is currently facing a federal investigation over his fundraising practices. He has said his campaign followed fundraising law.

Prosecutors say Qin was involved in two other straw donor schemes.

Federal Election Commission records show that Qin donated $2,900 in 2022 to the campaign of Allan Fung, a Republican former mayor who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Rhode Island. Fung did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Thursday.

Records also show that a man named Jonathan Chau, who provided Adams’ transition committee with $1,000 on December 9, 2021, gave $5,800 to a committee supporting Fung, and $2,900 to a committee supporting Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican from Long Island, supported. An email seeking comment was sent to a Garbarino employee.

Also as part of the case, Qin admitted that he filed a false application for lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. in 2019 by falsely claiming that he had never used an alias and had fraudulently obtained a Florida driver’s license when he lived in New York.