Greedy woman stole $9m from employer and treated herself to a coastal mansion with a Porsche on the driveway
Ping 'Jenny' Gao, 55, of Point Loma, California, admitted in federal court that she quietly diverted more than $8.5 million from her boss's companies and used the cash to fund a lavish lifestyle in San Diego. Gao pleaded guilty last Thursday to wire fraud and money laundering, according to the US Department of Justice. Prosecutors said Gao systematically drained four corporate bank accounts tied to her employer, moving the money into accounts she secretly opened in her own name. She splurged on a $160,000 Porsche and a $2.9 million waterfront home with sweeping views of San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. In her plea agreement, Gao admitted using the stolen money to buy the luxury car and multimillion-dollar home, and acknowledged moving more than $1 million into her personal accounts. She also confessed to burning through hundreds of thousands of dollars at upscale fashion stores. The scheme began to unravel when her employer noticed the missing money and sued her in San Diego Superior Court.
The scheme drained four corporate accounts and secret personal accounts
Instead of admitting wrongdoing, Gao doubled down. She claimed the plaintiff was a fraud and insisting the real owner of the companies in China had approved every transfer. To support that false narrative, prosecutors said she paid more than $100,000 to individuals in China to produce fake documents, which she then filed in court to fight a preliminary injunction. She later admitted that she lied under oath during a deposition, falsely telling lawyers that the corporate accounts were actually her own. When the case went to trial in September 2023, she took the stand again and repeated the falsehoods, claiming the funds came from her personal investments in China and that a company manager was merely helping her move money into the US through 'underground banks' to dodge Chinese currency controls. Throughout the civil case, the Superior Court issued a series of orders barring Gao from spending, moving or dissipating the disputed funds. According to prosecutors, she ignored them. Even with those restrictions in place, Gao continued to push money overseas - including a $1.6 million wire transfer to a bank account in Hong Kong. After she lost the trial and the court's preliminary injunction was made permanent, she still carried on unloading assets. She sold the $160,000 Porsche to CarMax for $75,000, then turned a $70,000 cashier's check from that sale into cash by swapping it with another individual, in direct violation of the court's orders, prosecutors said. Authorities estimate that more than $3.29 million of the stolen money has either been blown or remains unaccounted for. Gao splurged on a $160,000 Porsche and a $2.9 million waterfront home overlooking San Diego Bay after siphoning funds from four corporate accounts. Gao entered her guilty plea on November 13, but news of the case was released later due to the federal government's lapse in appropriations.
Gao faces sentencing and the potential decades behind bars
The Point Loma executive assistant faces up to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. At sentencing, she faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on the wire fraud charge and an additional 20 years for concealment money laundering, along with fines totaling more than $500,000. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Patrick C. Swan. The Daily Mail has contacted the Department of Justice's director of media relations for comment.
