Narrator: In this episode of "American Greed"...
the queen of commercial real estate poses in the spotlight,
but operates in the shadows.
When you come to my home to eat,
this is the atmosphere you would experience.
Champion-Cain admitted in court
that she was the mastermind of a massive,
$400 million Ponzi scheme.
Narrator: Gina Champion-Cain is on the cover of magazines.
She sits on influential boards and wins awards.
In San Diego, she's kind of a big deal.
You know, as a real-estate developer and business owner,
I also own 10 restaurants.
I know, I'm crazy.
Gina wanted to build an empire.
Narrator: The mayor even names June 28, 2006,
Gina Champion-Cain Day.
Corey: She's this powerful woman entrepreneur in San Diego.
It's like, "Wow, how do I become that someday?"
Narrator: But Champion-Cain
isn't the role model she seems to be.
When she gets involved in the liquor-licensing business,
she becomes drunk with power and masterminds
one of the largest frauds in San Diego history.
Weisberg: I mean, you could argue
this was a $400 million business enterprise,
and here this woman pulled it off.
Narrator: But the enterprising entrepreneur
isn't the successful businesswoman
she pretends to be.
Galvin: In fact, over the seven years of her scheme,
she used about $60 million of investor funds
to prop up her failing businesses.
Narrator: Because the architect
of the largest woman-run Ponzi scheme in U.S. history
has a dark origin story.
And the ironic thing is I was actually
a victim of a Ponzi scheme.
♪♪
Narrator: In January 2022,
a massive equity fund claims they have been swindled
out of $75 million.
And they want their money back.
Their lawyers believe one person in particular has the answers...
Gina Champion-Cain.
I do.
Narrator: Though Champion-Cain is not the focus
of this particular lawsuit, she does have a lot to explain.
Man: Am I correct that...
Yes.
Narrator: Over the next five and a half hours,
Champion-Cain will describe eight years of her life,
during which she not only duped this fund
but also contrived to steal more than $350 million
from almost 500 investors.
And the conversation won't always be easy.
I'm being honest. I have nothing to lie for.
I'm already incarcerated.
You can continue to skewer me all you want.
It's not gonna affect me either way.
I'm already in prison, I'm already being punished,
I'm already remorseful. I'm already...
Narrator: This isn't what she has in mind
when she comes to San Diego from Michigan in the late '80s
to make a name for herself.
Galvin: She came out.
She graduated from the University of Michigan,
moved out to San Diego,
and ended up getting her MBA at the University of San Diego.
After getting her MBA,
she ended up deciding to form her own company
and that was American National Investments or ANI.
Narrator: Even the name is ambitious.
Champion-Cain doesn't just want to conquer real estate
in the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego.
She wants to conquer commercial real estate
across the entire country.
Woman: It's so great to meet you.
Congratulations on the second location.
Thank you so much. I'm very excited, very excited.
Neil Senturia spends nearly 50 hours
interviewing Champion-Cain for his book, "I Did It:
The Largest Woman-Run Ponzi Scheme in American History,"
as told to Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry.
And according to him, her ambition isn't for money,
but for glory.
Senturia: I think her ambition was to be famous.
I think that you have to understand
that if you pick real-estate development,
it's pretty high profile,
and they write articles about you.
And if you're right, you make a lot of money.
Weisberg: She really was a compelling figure,
and not just because she was a woman entrepreneur,
but, um, she had a certain charisma.
My presentation is not as deep as everybody else's on this.
You know, I'm just the real-estate girl.
"What innovative real estate can we do?"
Weisberg: She's a very compelling personality
and seemed very bright
and seemed to have a lot of business acumen.
Narrator: Howard Greenberg is intricately involved
in real-estate development in San Diego,
and he's quite aware of Champion-Cain's rising star.
Greenberg: She quickly became the chairman
of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
She got involved with the Centre City Development Corporation.
And she was very adept at interweaving herself
into the fabric of the downtown.
Champion-Cain: Good morning.
A lot of smart people in this room.
I'm just proud to be part of their environment
[chuckles] this morning, so thank you.
Narrator: But according to many involved,
the credit isn't entirely deserved.
She was very good at interweaving herself
in the political and business community,
and for that, was rewarded, I'd say,
and did a lot of self-promotion without a lot of backup.
Weisberg: I learned, little by little,
that many of the kinds of projects
she claimed to have been the developer of, she was not.
High-rise luxury condominiums
that she claimed to have been an equity partner in,
a developer in, she was not.
In many ways, she conned people into believing
that she had done much more than she had.
And she was masterful at promoting herself.
Narrator: Whether legitimate or not,
the media is ready to be her champion.
If you haven't checked out The Front Porch,
you have to check it out. Thank you so much, Gina!
Thank you!
Senturia: She was really famous in this town.
But it's a man's game and it's, um, sharp elbows and big money
and she was really good,
but she was fighting the famous glass ceiling.
Narrator: But Champion-Cain wants the world to know
that she's ready for the fight.
She is featured on magazine covers, in profiles,
and podcasts as a woman to be reckoned with
in the San Diego development scene.
Kaye: She's what I like to call a Hot Witch.
You know what I mean, she...
You know, she's fabulous and gorgeous and super successful,
and so I'm super excited to hear what she's got on her plate.
Champion-Cain: I love being a developer, I love real estate,
and I love seeing transformation in communities.
Narrator: She climbs so high in public estimation that in 2006,
the San Diego mayor declares June 28th
Gina Champion-Cain Day.
But things are about to get shaky
in Southern California real estate.
It was perhaps the worst financial collapse
since the Great Depression.
Narrator: With the economic crash in 2008,
commercial development screeches to a halt.
Reporter: Housing prices plummeted
and mortgage investments went sour.
Narrator: And like most everyone else,
Champion-Cain can't avoid the fallout.
Galvin: Coming out of the downturn in the late 2000s,
she felt desperation.
She felt desperation to make money for herself,
for her family, and for friends.
Narrator: She decides it may be a good time to pivot
into a different industry,
but she gets there almost by accident.
Senturia: She sees a piece of land in Pacific Beach
and it's perfect for apartments.
It's an old restaurant.
It's kind of favored by the community and she ties it up.
She's gonna tear the restaurant down
and she's gonna build apartments.
The community has an uprising and said,
"No, no, we don't want to lose the restaurant."
So she goes home to her husband and she says,
"Steve, we're gonna be in the restaurant business."
And it's there, of course, where she learns
that you have to get a liquor license.
Narrator: The restaurant is called
The patio on Lamont Street,
and it will soon become the epicenter
of the biggest Ponzi scheme in San Diego history.
When "American Greed" returns... Gina Champion-Cain
launches a $350 million fraud.
I came up with the idea that a lending business
would be a good idea.
Narrator: But it may be more than she bargained for.
♪♪
Narrator: By all appearances,
Gina Champion-Cain is living her best life.
Her reputation in Southern California real estate
is growing as she sits on multiple influential boards
in Southern California
and is featured in magazines,
social media, and TV programs like "California Life"...
Champion-Cain: When you come to my home to eat,
this is the atmosphere you would experience.
Narrator: But for her, it's never enough.
Galvin: After she opened up that first Patio restaurant in 2011,
she starts to realize that there's this process
that you need to go through
in order to purchase a liquor license.
Brewer: Just like when you transfer title of your car
and you have to file it with the DMV,
in order to transfer title of an alcoholic beverage license,
you have to file an application with the ABC.
Narrator: ABC is the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control,
and their regulations state that within 30 days,
all applicants buying a liquor license from a previous owner
must put the full cost of the license in an escrow account.
By law, the money is locked away
until the transaction is either approved or abandoned,
which can take months or even years.
And having your cold hard cash locked away in a virtual safe
can be quite problematic.
They can be very expensive. It depends on the area.
Depends on the type of license,
but they can be anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars
to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And it just sits there until the ABC approves or rejects
your application for the transfer of the liquor license.
Narrator: But Champion-Cain says
this hardship for entrepreneurs
could actually turn into a benefit for everyone.
She thinks she can help the little guy
starting a bar or restaurant, while at the same time
turning a tidy profit for herself and investors.
Cramer: So Gina Champion-Cain recognized an opportunity.
She began pitching investors
that she would lend these restaurants
who were trying to purchase liquor licenses
the money that they needed to put into an escrow account
for as long as they needed it.
Narrator: In theory, it's a bridge loan... the funding
from deep-pocketed investors means the hopeful bar owner
doesn't need to front any money at all.
In exchange, when the license is approved and transferred,
the applicant pays the seller full price for the license,
as well as between 15% and 25% interest
to the investor for fronting the money,
at which point the investor gets their loan back from escrow.
For investors, it seems like a no-lose situation,
because the money is held in escrow
at one of the largest insurance companies in the world...
Chicago Title.
The worst that can happen, or so Champion-Cain says,
is that investors get their money back
if the applicant doesn't pay.
The problem is, the loan isn't necessary.
She's fabricated the entire scheme.
According to Michael Brewer, despite state regulations,
liquor-license applicants can defer funding the escrow account
for as long as they want.
They can just send an e-mail
asking for the funding date to be extended,
and they've never refused it in my experience.
Narrator: Therefore, applicants have no real need for a loan,
and Champion-Cain's lending platform has no real market.
Unless she makes one up.
She provides a list of supposed liquor-license applicants
to investors and tells them to pull from the top shelf.
Mark Cramer, who later files a civil lawsuit
against Champion-Cain and other entities,
believes these lists are totally bogus.
Cramer: People could look at these lists
and choose which ones they wanted to invest in.
Oftentimes what Gina would do,
particularly for a first-time investor, is say,
"I'll go in on this first one with you.
We'll be co-investors together."
And that added even more credibility
that if Gina's putting her own money at risk for this,
then this is truly a no-brainer.
"I can't lose. I can only win."
Narrator: Maybe, if it were true.
Unfortunately, none of these
supposed liquor-license applicants on her lists
actually want to borrow any money.
Champion-Cain just pretends they do.
Cramer: The whole thing is a fantasy.
It seems from day one, this was hatched as a fraudulent scheme.
Narrator: But her contacts in the business world
don't know that.
They believe Champion-Cain is pitching a sure thing.
Galvin: So the beginning of her scheme,
Champion-Cain relied on individuals
that she knew from the business community
who began investing and over time,
you had others who became aggregators.
In effect, they would go out and find their own investors.
Narrator: The aggregators then pool the money
from other investors
and put that money into the investment program.
Mr. Peters... Kim Peterson,
is or was one of the main investors,
lenders, into the liquor-license program.
Narrator: Kim Peterson is also
a real-estate developer in San Diego,
but his initial relationship with Champion-Cain is social.
Peterson: She and her husband were a member
of the same golf club that I belong to in San Diego.
So I started to see her then.
Starting about, oh, maybe 2010.
And then one morning, we had coffee together
just to talk about business development
and real-estate development,
and that kind of morphed into, you know, the relationship.
Narrator: One day in 2013, Champion-Cain lures Peterson
into her lending scheme, and Peterson takes the bait.
He makes a $200,000 investment.
Peterson: My view of it at the time was that, I liked Gina.
I trusted Gina.
I understand the logic of the platform.
It made sense to me, and so I thought,
"Well, I'll try, I'll do one of these or two of these
and see how, you know, it plays out."
So that's how it kind of started and then it just kind of started
to get a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger.
Narrator: It keeps getting bigger
because Peterson keeps seeing positive returns.
Soon, Peterson begins to recruit more investors into the program,
and his involvement builds so large
that he starts his own company, Kim Funding, LLC,
exclusively to raise money for the program.
Peterson: I knew a fair amount of people in San Diego,
and I had, you know, lending relationships with banks
through my real-estate development business.
So I started talking to banks.
I started talking to high-net-worth individuals.
Narrator: What Peterson's investors don't have
is a deep knowledge of liquor-license transfers.
And that's exactly how Champion-Cain likes it.
Greenberg: I don't think that any of the people she approached
had a big knowledge or were intricately involved
in any of the process of achieving a liquor license,
and I think that was purposeful.
Narrator: And that includes nearly 500 investors.
For Champion-Cain, her investors' ignorance is bliss.
Eventually, Peterson's company alone ushers $140 million
into Champion-Cain's program.
And not a single dollar of it goes toward
a liquor-license loan.
But all Peterson knows is that he's making money.
Peterson: In hindsight, I look at that and go like,
"Well, should I have spent more time
being concerned about that?"
And, you know, I just wasn't at the time
because they're wiring me all this money.
I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars,
you know, in and out all the time.
And so the idea that... that there's something wrong here
just didn't register.
Yes.
Cramer: First and foremost, like in any fraudulent scheme
or Ponzi scheme like this, Gina had to use proceeds
from new investors to pay old investors.
Galvin: Over the life of the scheme,
which was approximately 2012 to 2019,
Champion-Cain paid out several hundred million dollars
back to investors.
And ultimately investors lost over $180 million,
but she still paid out a lot of money
to investors to generate this interest in the program
and to keep it going.
Narrator: In fact, not only are there no real loans,
there are no real escrow accounts.
All money that investors expect is going into escrow
is actually going into an account entirely
under Champion-Cain's control.
Cramer: Gina got her hands on the money
that was sent to Chicago Title
because Gina is the only person entity
who had an agreement with Chicago Title that was real.
And that agreement didn't provide
for an actual escrow at all.
It was called a holding funds escrow,
but it was effectively a slush fund for Gina
to use as she saw fit.
And it's the opposite of what escrow is all about.
Narrator: But it's exactly what Champion-Cain is all about...
Lying her way to fame and fortune.
When "American Greed" returns...
don't get too friendly with Gina Champion-Cain.
Even those closest to her aren't safe from her scheme.
So it was exciting to have money to use,
but, yeah, lost that.
♪♪
Narrator: Gina Champion-Cain has decided to branch out
from real-estate development and expand into other industries.
In the beginning, it's restaurants.
But she doesn't stop there.
Her fame is only growing.
Over the next several years,
she continues to appear in the media
and speak at local business conferences.
As a real-estate developer and business owner,
I also own 10 restaurants. I know, I'm crazy.
Narrator: And she has no intention
of leaving the spotlight.
Galvin: In the late 2000s, around 2008,
you have this large economic downturn,
and at that point, she decides to reinvent herself.
And what she decides to do is go into more of the hospitality
and the retail industry.
She purchases some homes in Mission Beach
and turns them into hotels under the Luv Surf brand.
She starts selling accessories at a store called Luv Surf,
you know, women's beach fashion, towels, things like that.
And from there, really increases her investment
in the retail side of her businesses.
Luv Surf... It was pretty much a brand.
Narrator: Pamela Corey is living in Massachusetts in 2013
when a simple vacation to San Diego changes her life.
Corey: I had fell in love with the area,
and I knew this was the place I want to be.
I just went online and kind of Googled things in the area
that seemed of interest to me
and sent my résumé to anybody who would look at it.
So, yeah, I guess it tickled their fancy.
Narrator: Luv surf hires her,
and Corey thinks she's made the best decision of her life.
She and her new boss, Gina Champion-Cain, hit it off.
Corey: She was intimidating in a good way to me, I guess.
You know, it's like I looked up to her.
Um, because I'm like, "Wow, she's this powerful woman
entrepreneur in San Diego."
It's like, "Wow, how do I become that someday?"
But she was also very kind to me.
I would go to her home for Thanksgiving,
for just to stop by and have wine.
And I saw her almost every day, you know,
'cause she was always in the shop.
Narrator: And the shop is thriving, so Champion-Cain
does what she always does... Goes bigger.
Corey: Well, the boutique was doing great,
so that's why we decided to open more stores.
And then, as time went on, we kind of noticed
that the numbers weren't really doing as well
as they had initially been doing,
and it was kind of confusing
as to why we were opening more stores
when our numbers weren't matching the growth.
Narrator: Champion-Cain doesn't seem too concerned
with numbers not matching up,
especially when it's not her money.
Cramer: Over the life of the scheme, Champion-Cain's business grew.
She continued to hire more and more employees,
family members, friends, friends of family members.
Weisberg: At one point, she talked about 700 employees.
I mean, that's huge.
Obviously they weren't all in her office.
They were employed in all these
different businesses and restaurants.
But that's a huge enterprise.
Corey: They were constantly bringing on tons of team members
and paying big salaries.
And so I was like, "Huh, how is she doing all of this
when, you know, all of these other businesses
aren't doing that well?"
So, but I just thought she, you know,
just had a lot of money.
Narrator: In a way, she does.
It's just not hers.
To the outside world, a lot of these businesses
and restaurants appeared successful,
but really they were losing money
and Champion-Cain was using money from investors
to prop up these failing business.
In fact, over the seven years of her scheme,
she used about $60 million of investor funds
to prop up her failing businesses.
Narrator: But the socialite is not all business.
While she uses much of the stolen money
to amplify her appearance of professional success,
she also takes a little something for herself.
She also used millions of dollars to pay
for personal expenses.
She used millions of dollars to pay
for her own salary each year.
She purchased a home in Rancho Mirage, California.
She purchased another home in Mission Beach, California.
She spent hundreds of thousands on jewelry
from expensive stores like Tiffany.
Narrator: But if Champion-Cain
is going to keep up this lifestyle,
she's going to need help.
And she's brazen enough to try to enlist one
of the biggest companies in the world to provide it.
Up next on "American Greed"...
Champion-Cain is trading on the name of a banking king,
but it's actually the pawns that help her orchestrate her gambit.
Cramer: She needs them not to blow the whistle on her
or become uncooperative.
She needs to keep them doing what they're doing.
♪♪
Narrator: In San Diego,
Gina Champion-Cain's fraud continues to grow,
but as it grows, so does her dependence on her
escrow provider, Chicago Title.
She's had a legitimate relationship
with the insurance giant for years
while developing commercial real estate,
and now she wants to exploit that relationship
through her liquor-license lending scheme.
Cramer: I've probably talked with close
to 100 of the victims of the scheme,
and every single one of them told me some variation of,
"I would never have given this kind of money to Gina.
I wouldn't even give this kind of money
to my family members or friends.
I gave that money because I knew it was gonna be
in an escrow account held by Chicago Title."
Narrator: Chicago Title may seem invulnerable
to the outside world,
but according to several lawsuits filed against them,
there may be a disease incubating within.
Cramer: Time will tell exactly to what extent
who knew what when at Chicago Title,
but there is evidence that a number of the escrow officers
and others within the organization
were aware of what Gina was doing.
Narrator: But if they are aware, Champion-Cain
wants to make sure they're insulated from her fraud.
Galvin: She created this buffer
between investors and Chicago Title.
So Champion-Cain would tell investors,
"You can't talk to the people at Chicago Title
who run this program.
They're too busy. They have too much going on.
If you start to talk to them,
you can't invest in the program anymore."
On the flip side, she would tell the individuals
working at Chicago Title, "Don't worry.
You don't need to talk to my investors.
If they reach out to you, you can ignore them.
I'll tell them that you're too busy."
So by doing that she created this separation, this buffer
so that the investors weren't talking to Chicago Title,
and Chicago Title wasn't talking to the investors.
Narrator: There may be a buffer
between investors and Chicago Title,
but Champion-Cain communicates often
with two Chicago Title employees in particular.
The e-mails going back and forth
between them are very familiar, very casual.
And they're funny and entertaining in some ways.
The e-mails were very, like, almost like a girlfriend
talking to another girlfriend.
"I have always promised you I would shelter you
from my crazy investors, and I will continue to do so.
If any one of them bug you as they are too stupid
to understand the program,
then they are fired as an investor.
I have plenty of dudes dying to give me money, honey.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Love you ladies."
She didn't want anybody saying anything
that could hurt the scheme,
so she wanted to control the narrative.
And so she would say that in a friendly manner
in these e-mails.
But the bottom line was, it was like,
"Keep your mouths shut. I'll take care of everything."
Narrator: Even if the loan officers
aren't acutely aware of Champion-Cain's scheme,
they certainly take advantage of the perks she offers.
Champion-Cain: I gave jewelry, champagne,
baseball tickets, Charger suite tickets.
We had corporate suites there.
Narrator: And it isn't always just perks.
As Champion-Cain testifies later,
she sometimes straight-up bolsters
these Chicago Title employees' bank accounts
to try to keep them in her favor.
Yes.
Well, she was very thankful.
Betty was very thankful.
Senturia: So, people got perks.
And at the grand scheme of things,
you're talking about $400 million and the perks were,
I don't know, 20 grand, 30 grand, nothing.
But you belonged.
It's a little bit like when you go to the nightclub
and the guy waves you in and everybody else
is standing behind the rope.
You feel special.
And I think in the case of these two women,
I think that was important that they got to feel
they were part of an inside group.
Narrator: If feeling special does encourage the loan officers
to be willfully ignorant, Champion-Cain
certainly gives them plenty of reasons to turn a blind eye.
For example, the escrow agreements
that are the root of the entire fraud.
Galvin: When an investor would put in money at Chicago Title,
Champion-Cain would provide them with an escrow agreement.
And this escrow agreement
would say that Chicago Title held the money
and that they couldn't do anything with the money
except for send it back to the investor
at the end of the application process.
Those escrow agreements were fake.
Gina Champion-Cain created them.
She forged signatures on them and she gave them to investors.
Narrator: It's a lot of work to steal that much money.
Weisberg: I mean, you could argue
this was a $400 million business enterprise.
I mean, it was like operating a really complex business
and here this woman pulled it off.
Narrator: Where did Champion-Cain learn such dazzling skills?
Maybe she'd had a taste before.
When "American Greed" returns...
the biggest fraudster in San Diego history
started out on the other end of a scam.
The ironic thing is I was actually a victim
of a Ponzi scheme.
Narrator: Want more "Greed"?
Follow us on Instagram, connect on Facebook,
and listen to the "American Greed" podcast
wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll be right back.
♪♪
Narrator: By the end of her fraud,
Gina Champion-Cain has orchestrated
the largest Ponzi scheme in San Diego history.
Ironically, it echoes a fraud she and a group of partners
were victims of just 10 years earlier.
Weisberg: So, Gina... She wanted to do
this huge downtown development project.
It was a $300 million project, so obviously you need financing.
Cramer: And they found a private-equity fund
which claimed to be backed by a lot of European,
high-net-worth individuals
who were looking to invest in real-estate development
in the United States.
And so, in order to make a loan application,
they were required to deposit $300,000 into a Florida bank.
Narrator: Champion-Cain and her partners
make the $300,000 deposit
and are soon provided with all the paperwork
indicating that the financing for their project
has been approved.
All they have to do is wait for the money to come flowing in.
Cramer: Months go by and the funds don't come in
and they don't come in.
And eventually Gina learns... it's a fraud.
The money's gone.
Correct.
Yes.
Correct.
Narrator: But maybe the experience
teaches Champion-Cain a lesson...
A lesson that brings in more
than $350 million from investors.
Cramer: In the course of that scheme that she was a victim of,
she comes to find out that all of these documents
that she'd been receiving from the private equity fund
were forgeries and fabrications, including, for example,
documentation about letters of credit
that secured their $300,000 deposit.
So, what should have been a cautionary tale for Gina
ends up planting a seed or inspiring her
to launch the scheme that she did.
Narrator: If the experience plants a seed,
the fruits of her fraud are about to be exposed
because people are starting to catch on to her.
The Torrey Pines incident was the big one.
Narrator: In 2017,
Kim Peterson reaches out to Torrey Pines Bank
looking for a $5 million loan
to invest in the licensing program.
Torrey Pines is a big real-estate bank,
well known, and they agree to lend him $5 million,
which he's gonna put into the liquor-license program of Gina,
and he's gonna make money on it.
Narrator: But before Torrey Pines will make the loan,
they want to see some backup
and ask Kim Peterson to provide copies of his escrow agreements.
He provides copies of agreements from Chicago Title
representing a total of $140 million,
signed by a supposed Chicago Title employee...
Wendy Reynolds.
Peterson: One of the bankers called down to Chicago Title
'cause they were confused about the wiring instructions
and asked for Wendy Reynolds.
And they said, you know, that there,
"We don't know a Wendy Reynolds here."
It's a made-up name. Gina made it up.
Narrator: In a careless blunder, Champion-Cain forges
the name of a fictitious person on Peterson's escrow agreements.
And while Torrey Pines is unraveling that mystery,
Michael Brewer is doing some digging of his own
when a client asks him about the lending program.
Brewer: He called me up out of the blue and asked me,
well, what did I think of this
and would I look into it for him.
And I immediately had a number of concerns
with the documents that were provided to him
because they were deals
that did not require liquor-license escrows.
So those were automatically red flags that,
"No, there's no escrow on these,
so why would they need to borrow money
because there's no escrow required in the first place."
And going through the due-diligence platform,
we discovered... We came to the conclusion
that it was a Ponzi scheme.
Narrator: And Brewer isn't the only one
beginning to see the light.
When "American Greed" returns...
the feds are after Champion-Cain,
and she knows it will only end one way.
Champion-Cain: Yeah. They never work.
Ponzi schemes never work.
Everyone knows that. Man: Right.
♪♪
Narrator: In May 2019, Gina Champion-Cain
receives a disturbing letter from the SEC
announcing that she is under investigation.
But she isn't ready for last call.
Galvin: On the one hand,
she was cooperative with their investigation.
But behind closed doors,
she was doing everything she could to thwart
the government's investigation of her scheme.
She instructed employees not to produce certain documents
that were incriminating.
She ordered employees in the accounting department
to alter accounting records to make it look
like she didn't use investor funds for personal expenses.
She ordered employees to shred a huge volume
of hard-copy documents that were incriminating.
Even after she knew that the government
was investigating her scheme,
she continued to try to get money from investors.
She couldn't stop.
She tried to get $150 million
to add to her fund with this misguided belief
that with that additional money she could keep it going,
that she could make
all the government investigators go away,
prop up her business and everything would be fine.
Champion-Cain: We were working on the Patio Marketplace IPO
that we were gonna take that public
and put it out there and get the money back
to pay the folks the outstanding debt back,
and that was the goal.
Weisberg: You know, when you hear that, it almost sounds
like the addicted gambler
who wants to go to the blackjack table one more time.
She was convinced that the strength of her portfolio
was gonna... By taking it public,
she could pay everyone back.
Narrator: She doesn't just mine the big pockets of San Diego.
She even takes advantage of her loyal acolytes and friends
for every dollar she can get to save her scheme and her skin,
no matter what the circumstance.
When Pamela Corey's father dies,
she inherits $20,000.
And she entrusts it all to her mentor, Gina Champion-Cain.
It's the first investment she's ever made.
Corey: You know, before, I was just kind of living
paycheck to paycheck, you know,
just kind of living your normal life.
And, yeah, so it was exciting to have money to use.
Narrator: But she might as well
be flushing it all down the toilet,
because the feds are about to break down the door.
The same day Champion-Cain receives her letter
from the SEC, Kim Peterson is also subpoenaed.
He thinks it must all be a misunderstanding.
But Peterson is the one who doesn't understand.
They start showing me all these escrow documents and I go,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," identify all the stuff
and they ask me questions for 7-8 hours,
you know, about the business and all this stuff,
and nothing unusual.
And then at the end, they give me this...
The final document they gave me was a holding agreement.
Narrator: The document is stunning.
It's an agreement between Champion-Cain and Chicago Title
forged by Champion-Cain entirely without Peterson's knowledge.
It allows Champion-Cain access
to the hundreds of millions of dollars
that Peterson believes is being held safely
in his own escrow accounts.
He asks his lawyers to look into it and gets terrible news.
Not only is the document real,
but all his escrow agreements are fake.
Peterson: He called and said all those escrows are fraudulent
and there's only $11 million in this account.
There's not $140 million.
And I just went, "Oh, my God."
So that is when, you know, then we knew that there was,
you know, a big problem.
Narrator: It's becoming a big problem
for Champion-Cain as well.
On August 28, 2019, the SEC freezes all of her
and American National Investments' assets.
And in July 2020, criminal charges are filed.
Champion-Cain admitted under oath in court
that she was the mastermind of a massive
$400 million Ponzi scheme.
Galvin: Ultimately, Gina Champion-Cain pleaded guilty,
accepted responsibility for her role
in orchestrating the biggest Ponzi scheme
in the history of San Diego.
Over seven years,
she brought in nearly $400 million from investors.
Investors lost over $180 million
and she used tens of millions of dollars
to prop up her businesses and for her own personal expenses.
Narrator: Despite the betrayal,
as Champion-Cain awaits sentencing,
Pamela Corey remains in touch with the woman she once admired.
Corey: She didn't directly say, "I'm sorry."
She just said, "I promise you'll get all your money back,
you know, and I'm going to pay everybody back."
But she said she felt like she had a weight
lifted off her shoulders, like, she slept better at night
because now she doesn't have to carry
this huge lie around with her, so...
I don't know.
It's hard to get into the mind of a sociopath.
Narrator: At sentencing, the judge's gavel lands hard.
Champion-Cain was sentenced to 15 years in prison,
and what's interesting and significant
about this sentencing was that federal prosecutors
had actually asked
for 130 months' sentence, which is about 12 years.
And the judge actually didn't think
that was enough and tacked more years onto her sentence.
Narrator: For many, justice was served.
She defrauded all of San Diego and Mission Beach
and, you know, it's a bummer to drive by the stores
and see them all closed down, you know.
But there's just bad karma in there.
This whole place needs to be saged.
Narrator: Over the course of speaking with Champion-Cain
while researching his book,
Neil Senturia says one interaction with her stands out.
Senturia: There's a moment
when I ask her the following question.
I say, "Gina, if you'd only had the one really good restaurant,
The Patio, and two or three vacation rentals,
would it have been enough?"
And there's a... a moment and I think she nods and says, "Yeah."
And so the question for all of us in some ways is.
"How much is enough?"
♪♪
Captions by VITAC...
♪♪