It seems that new examples of fraudsters and embezzlers are surfacing every day. In the latest, A former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) employee has been charged with siphoning more than $22 million in taxpayers’ dollars into a technology company.
Investigators described the pay-to-play scheme as one of the largest money laundering scandals in the history the Los Angeles Unified School District. https://t.co/wp6Hp7yXEc pic.twitter.com/JDRI0uoAL6
— KTLA (@KTLA) March 27, 2026
A KTLA5 report on the incident has more:
A former Los Angeles Unified School District employee has been charged in what prosecutors described as a pay-to-play scheme that directed more than $22 million in contracts to a single technology company, making it one of the largest money laundering schemes in the district’s history.
Since this is a school district employee, then it stands to reason that these are taxpayer funds that are being funneled into a money-laundering scheme.
Officials with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office allege that between 2018 and 2022, 53-year-old Pasadena resident, Hong “Grace” Peng, who worked as a technical project manager for LAUSD, of illegally awarding Innive, a Texas-based tech company, millions of dollars worth of contracts for work on the district’s My Integrated Student Information System (MiSiS).
The owner of Innive, 53-year-old Flower Mound, Texas resident Gautham Sampath, is accused of then laundering more than $3 million and routing the funds to Peng through various intermediaries.
In 2022, investigators served a search warrant at Peng’s Pasadena residence and her LAUSD workplace, which prosecutors say prompted her to resign from the school district.
Stepping away from her job is likely to be the least of her problems.
She has since been charged with one felony count of money laundering and having a financial interest in a contract or purchase made in an official capacity.
A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Sampath has also been charged with a felony count of money laundering, having a financial interest in a contract or purchase made in an official capacity and aiding and abetting a government official to have a financial interest in a contract or purchase made in an official capacity.
An extradition warrant has been issued for Sampath, whose company has current government contracts throughout California and across the country.
So many of these people get caught, and yet so many more seem ready to try to put one over on American taxpayers and American law enforcement.
This isn’t just a crime. Hong “Grace” Peng was placed in a position of trust by the parents and taxpayers of the Los Angeles Unified School District. She now stands accused of betraying that trust, 22 million times over. But she’s been caught, charged, and if convicted, will count the cost.
If both Peng and Sampath are convicted, they each face up to seven years in a state prison. That seems too light, but this is California.
We will continue to watch this case and bring you updates as things develop.
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