A Queens grand jury indicted six defendants for voter fraud related to the 2023 City Council primary in District 20 in northeast Queens.
The six individuals are variously charged in a 161-count indictment with submitting fraudulent absentee ballot applications while volunteering for the campaign of Yu-Ching James Pai, who was a candidate in the June 2023 GOP primary election for City Council. Five of the six defendants surrendered Thursday at the office of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and were arraigned hours later.
Defendants include the candidate’s daughter, Sydnee Pai, 19; Li Zhen Wan, 46; Yee Ping Yam, 53; Lisbeth Cheg, 24; and Crystal You were arraigned before Queens Supreme Court Justice Leigh K. Cheng on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, illegal voting and other crimes in an alleged scheme to submit falsified absentee ballot applications for the Pai campaign.
Pai edged candidate Dany Chen by just 181 votes in the GOP primary in June before losing to Council Member Sandra Ung in last November’s general election.
“Our democracy relies on integrity at the voting booth,” Katz said. “And we will not allow that to be compromised in Queens County.”
According to the charges, between approximately March 1, 2023, and June 27, 2023, while the defendants were volunteers for Pai’s campaign, they visited the city Board of Elections office in Forest Hills to pick up ballots for voters who purportedly wanted to cast absentee ballots in the GOP primary election of June 2023. The defendants were listed as the person authorized to pick up the ballots and they later returned to do so.
The Queens DA’s office launched an investigation following a grievance from a voter who was told that they had already placed their vote upon arriving at their designated polling location.
Queens DA investigators interviewed multiple individuals whose names and personal information were listed on the ballot application and learned that the voters did not fill out or sign the application, never met the defendant listed as authorized to pick it up and never received an absentee ballot. In total, the charges in the indictment reflect that 23 Queens County voters had absentee ballot applications and ballots fraudulently submitted in their names.
“As alleged in this case, the defendants went to the Board of Elections and filed fraudulent ballot applications on behalf of 23 voters they had never met,” Katz said. “I thank my Public Corruption Bureau and the Board of Elections for their assistance in this investigation.”
Justice Cheng ordered the five defendants to return to court on Sep. 19. They each face up to seven years in prison if convicted on the top charge. A sixth defendant is expected to be arraigned at a later date, according to the DA’s office.
“The Board of Elections is proud to work with our government partners on the federal, state and local level to refer and support election integrity investigations,” Board of Elections Deputy Executive Director Vincent Ignizio said. “We thank District Attorney Melinda Katz for working with us to protect and ensure elections in NYC are free and fair for all.”
New York election attorney Aaron Foldenauer represents Chen and filed the initial civil litigation a year ago.
“Six individuals are now being brought to justice in connection with this absentee ballot fraud only because my client and I extensively documented this fraud in a lawsuit we filed a year ago,” Foldenauer said. “Luckily, District Attorney Katz followed this case and has indicted these six individuals who appear to have harvested hundreds of fraudulent absentee ballots.”
He added that the fraudulent ballots documented in Thursday’s indictment are just the tip of the iceberg.
“According to my analysis and the work of our handwriting expert, over 500 fraudulent absentee ballots were submitted in connection with this City Council election, in a race that was decided by just 181 votes,” Foldenauer added. “We here in New York City and the State of New York need to be vigilant, because election fraud occurs more often than is commonly believed, particularly in these smaller contests.”
