A former Los Angeles Unified School District employee has been charged in what prosecutors call a sprawling pay-to-play scheme that directed more than $22 million in taxpayer dollars in contracts to a single technology company.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said 53-year-old Pasadena resident, Hong “Grace” Peng, who worked as a technical project manager for LAUSD, illegally awarded Innive, a Texas-based tech company, millions of dollars worth of contracts for work on the district’s My Integrated Student Information System (MiSiS).
Hochman calls it the largest money laundering scheme in LAUSD history, with Peng bragging in text messages to her alleged coconspirators about breaking the law…