What is the worst thing you have done in your life? Stealing food when you were a child or betraying a friend when they trusted you the most? This is the story of a woman who stopped caring about any of the people in her life. She did not care who she was hurting and why she was hurting them.
Gina Champion-Cain was a 57-year-old businesswoman who probably already had so much going for her that she did not need anymore. But she was not satisfied. So, instead of working hard and earning money with her hard work, she betrayed people into giving her money. These people were not strangers. These people had been her close friends for many years. Most of her friends probably invested in her scheme because they trusted her, not because they trusted the scheme.
Champion-Cain was best known for her chain of patio restaurants, clothing, and vacation rentals. She was a strong and empowered businesswoman until she started deceiving people.
Cain’s Ponzi Scheme
Champion-Cain lured investors to invest in her company that was supposed to help business owners acquire a California liquor license. She raised around $350 million. There were more than 490 investors who lost $180 million. She had promised them that her scheme would generate high-interest loans to loan seekers, which was supposed to assure immediate returns.
But investors were, of course, not aware that she was doing no such thing. Instead, Champion-Cain was using this money to help her other businesses and to upgrade her lifestyle. Her luxury lifestyle included cars, homes, and jewelry. The scheme went on for seven years, and she kept paying old investors with new investors’ money, making it a classic Ponzi scheme.
Champion-Cain pleaded guilty on July 22, 2020, to this Ponzi scheme, obstruction of evidence, and security fraud. Champion-Cain’s Ponzi scheme is perhaps the biggest scam in the history of the Southern District of California.
When Champion-Cain learned about the investigations into her scheme, she asked her employees to get rid of any emails that could connect to her to the scheme, and she removed any kind of documentation that would reveal the truth about her lending program. Investigators recovered most of the evidence Champion-Cain tried to destroy.
Case Proceeding
In a statement during the trial, Champion-Cain said that she wants to recover the money for her victims, but the judge stated that most of the money had been spent and could not be recovered. Champion-Cain also said that she had begun the scheme with the intention to make it legitimate, but soon, things got out of control, and she started scheming to get more investors.
In her defense, Champion-Cain told the court that she always assured herself that she would be able to make the money to pay back all the investors when her business grew. When the judge was about to deliver the sentence, Champion-Cain addressed him, saying that she understood the seriousness of her crime and its impact on her victims. From the beginning of the proceedings, she had been asking herself what could have led her to commit such a horrible crime. She said she believes this crime occurred because of the 2008 recession. She had been working hard for her family and friends; it was desperation that brought her here. She said she never stopped working hard, but she also kept failing. Soon, she needed the money to support her image as Gina Champion-Cain.
The many victims present in the courtroom addressed the judge and told him how betrayed they felt. All these victims had known Champion-Cain for a long time. Most of them were her close friends. Jane Gilbert, who had known Champion-Cain for more than 30 years, said she still could not believe that her friend had conned her. Gilbert was more saddened by the fact that her friend could do this to her than she was about losing her money. She also said that she does not trust her words anymore. She does not know if anything Champion-Cain says is true or not.
Kristine Heidrich, the former owner of a bioidentical hormone therapy company, asked the judge to deliver the maximum sentence possible under the law. She called Champion-Cain a “very bad person” and “evil.” Heidrich also stated that she had looked at Champion-Cain as a “business companion.”
Federal prosecutors recommended less jail time for Champion-Cain because of her cooperation during the case. But U.S. District Judge Larry Burns was against it. Judge Burns said she could have been charged with more criminal cases due to her massive fraud scheme. He also said that Champion-Cain deserved more years in prison for betrayal. Keeping in mind the prosecutors’ suggestions, Judge Burns sentenced Champion-Cain; with good behavior and other factors, she could get out of prison 3 years earlier.
Champion-Cain’s request to start her prison term after getting the COVID-19 vaccine was declined by the judge. After being sentenced, Champion-Cain was immediately taken into custody and was led out of the courtroom with her hands behind her back.
Acting U.S. Attorney Andy Grossman said that it was a fitting sentence for someone who had caused so much financial and emotional trouble to hundreds of victims. According to Grossman, the defendant caused so much suffering while she herself lived in luxury.
Champion-Cain was not alone in making up these deals and cheating investors. Her former financial officer, Crispin Torres, was an associate in this scheme. Torres was on March 23, 2021 to four years in prison for his connection with Champion-Cain’s Ponzi scheme.
