Two Charged in Alleged $22M LAUSD Contracting Scheme

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Unified School District or 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 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 of Flower Mound, Tex., 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 seven years in county jail.

If your organization has entered into any contracts with Innive, please contact the Public Integrity Division at 213-257-2475 or submit information through our online form at https://da.lacounty.gov/contact/email

The case first come to light in April 2022. Since then, LAUSD’s office of inspector general and the DA’s Bureau of Investigation have been working on the case. Some of the text messages and payments discovered are reflected in the charging document. In this video, District Attorney Hochman discusses those texts.