Chinese billionaire pleads guilty to straw donor scheme in New York and Rhode Island

NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese billionaire pleaded guilty Monday to violating U.S. election laws by funneling illegal straw donations to a New York City official, a member of the U.S. House and a congressional candidate.

Hui Qin, a Chinese film magnate with homes in Manhattan and Long Island, admitted to using his fortune to recruit and reimburse people who made political donations on his behalf, beginning with a New York City race in 2021.

Court papers filed Monday by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn don’t identify the candidates backed by Qin. But there were only a handful of citywide races in New York that year, including the election of Mayor Eric Adams.

When asked, an attorney for Adams, Vito Pitta, said: “As the federal government made clear today, the campaign had no knowledge of a straw donor scheme — and no member of the campaign has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing.”

Qin was previously included on the Forbes list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $1.8 billion from his stake in film and entertainment companies, including the Honk Kong-based SMI Culture. He has been in U.S. custody since his arrest last October on charges of using a fake identification.

A phone call to his attorney was not immediately returned.

Campaign finance records show Qin, who is a Chinese citizen with a U.S. green card, donated $2,000 to Adams in March of 2021. Under the city’s campaign finance rules, green card-holders can contribute to races and participate in the city’s generous matching funds program, which caps donations at $2,100.

Nine months after he donated to Adams, federal prosecutors say Qin began working “to find individuals to make more than $10,000 in straw donor contributions” to an unnamed New York City