A San Diego woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling $8.5 million from her employer, admitting in federal court to a scheme that involved draining company funds and spending them on extravagant personal items, including a luxury vehicle and a multimillion-dollar home. Ping "Jenny" Gao of Point Loma confessed to wiring money into accounts she had fraudulently created as part of her illegal actions, detailed in her plea agreement.
The elaborate fraud case unraveled after Gao's employer became aware of the theft and took legal action. In her defense, Gao falsely claimed that she was authorized to make the transactions by the companies' real owner in China, labelling the person who filed the lawsuit an "imposter." She even went so far as to fabricate evidence to support her claims, paying over $100,000 to individuals in China to concoct this proof, which she later presented in court, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Gao's plea agreement reveals that she continued to disregard multiple court orders that were intended specifically to bar her from spending, transferring, or dissipating the proceeds of her crimes. This included wiring $1.6 million to an account in Hong Kong and selling a purchased Porsche for $160,000 for less than half its value.
Despite facing a permanent injunction, Gao persisted to make transactions with the embezzled funds deliberately. She exchanged a $70,000 cashier's check, itself proceeds from the sale of the Porsche, for cash. Over $3.29 million of the embezzled funds has yet to be accounted for or was squandered, as stated in her court admission, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Gao now faces substantial prison time and fines for the charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Swan is prosecuting this case, with investigations led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gao's case, filed under the number 23-CR-2380-JES, carries a maximum penalty of thirty years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense for wire fraud. For concealment money laundering, the maximum penalty is twenty years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater.
