Sentenced to 15 years for her role in orchestrating a nearly $400 million Ponzi scheme, the former restaurateur is incarcerated at the same prison camp where Felicity Huffman spent time for her involvement in the college admissions scandal
California woman sentenced for nearly $400M Ponzi scheme
By AP Author
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A San Diego businesswoman whose Ponzi scheme bilked hundreds of people out of nearly $400 million was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.
Gina Champion-Cain, 57, received more than the sentence recommended by prosecutors. At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns noted that some victims were friends she had known for years, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. This went on for seven years. This wasn’t just strangers hoping to get rich, Burns said. This is a level of deceit and betrayal I wasn’t fully aware of.
San Diego businesswoman sentenced to 15 years in prison for Ponzi scheme
Gina Champion-Cain, 57, ran what prosecutors characterized in court as the largest known Ponzi scheme in the history of the Southern District of California. Author: David Gotfredson (Investigative Producer), City News Service Published: 1:44 PM PDT March 31, 2021 Updated: 6:25 PM PDT March 31, 2021
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. A San Diego businesswoman who orchestrated a nearly $400 million Ponzi scheme, in which she took investor funds intended as loans for liquor licenses and funneled the money into her companies and for personal purchases, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.
Gina Champion-Cain, 57, ran what prosecutors characterized in court documents as the largest known Ponzi scheme in the history of the Southern District of California, which encompasses San Diego and Imperial counties.
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Prominent San Diego businesswoman Gina Champion-Cain, who pleaded guilty in June 2020 to securities fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice for defrauding investors out of $400 million through a liquor-license loan funding program, learned her fate on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns sentenced Champion-Cain to 15 years in prison the maximum sentence at the federal building on Front Street in downtown San Diego. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get the latest breaking news and local stories. During the hearing, several victims spoke to the judge, said Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Galvin outside court on Wednesday. Nearly 500 victims poured over $350 million into Champion-Cain s sham investment scheme. Ms. Champion-Cain did not use the money to finance liquor-license transactions, as she told investors. Rather, she used tens of millions of dollars to line her own pockets and to support her failing Patio
SAN DIEGO - A San Diego businesswoman whose Ponzi scheme bilked hundreds of people out of nearly $400 million was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.