San Diego woman sentenced over 5 years for embezzling millions from employer

A San Diego woman who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $8.5 million from her employer and laundering the money was sentenced Friday to five years and three months in prison.

Ping “Jenny” Gao took money from three aviation investment firms and then “went on a spending spree” that included buying a $2.9 million home in Point Loma and a $160,000 Porsche, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She was later sued by her employer in San Diego Superior Court upon discovery of the theft and prosecutors say her defense case included repeated acts of perjury, in which she claimed the actual owner of the companies was an imposter.

Gao paid more than $100,000 to people in China to fabricate evidence, pose as the supposed actual owner, and have them claim Gao was helping them reclaim money that had been stolen by people managing the companies in the U.S., prosecutors said.

Though the judge presiding over the civil trial ordered her not to spend any of the funds until the civil case was resolved, prosecutors say she violated the judge’s order more than 300 times through financial transactions that included wiring $1.6 million to a bank account in Hong Kong.

Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing papers that Gao sought to steal more than $23 million from her employer but at least $13.7 million of the funds were frozen by the civil judge’s temporary restraining order before Gao could move the money into new bank accounts.

Gao’s attorney, Da...