CALIFORNIA—On March 26, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office disclosed that a former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) information technology employee and the owner of a technology vendor company are facing felony charges in connection with an alleged scheme that directed more than $22 million in district contracts to the vendor.

Hong “Grace” Peng, 53, of Pasadena is charged with one felony count each of money laundering and having a financial interest in a contract or purchase made in an official capacity. Gautham Sampath, 53, of Flower Mound, Texas, is charged with one felony count each 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 arrest warrant has been issued for Peng, and an extradition warrant has been issued for Sampath. Arraignment for both defendants will be scheduled at a later date in case 26CJCF01762.

Between 2018 and 2022, Peng, who served as a technical project manager for LAUSD, is accused of illegally participating in the awarding of contracts primarily related to the district’s My Integrated Student Information System (known as MiSiS) to Innive, a company owned by Sampath. The contracts totaled more than $22 million.

Sampath is further accused of routing and laundering over $3 million back to Peng through various intermediaries.

Peng resigned from LAUSD after a search warrant related to the investigation was served at her home and her workplace in late 2022. Sampath and his company Innive currently have government contracts throughout California and across the country. If convicted as charged, each defendant faces up to 7 years in county jail.

Anyone whose organization has entered into any contracts with Innive is asked to contact the Public Integrity Division at (213) 257-2475 or submit information through our online form at https://da.lacounty.gov/contact/email.

In 2022, Los Angeles Unified School District’s Office of Inspector General did an initial investigation in the matter, referred the case to the LADA office, and assisted with the search of Peng’s house. Some of the text messages and payments discovered are reflected in the charging document. In this video, District Attorney Hochman discusses those texts.