LOS ANGELES – A Texas tech vendor pleaded not guilty Friday in a criminal case Los Angeles County prosecutors say funneled money meant for students through a yearslong LAUSD contracting arrangement tied to the district’s student information system.
Gautham Sampath, 53, of Flower Mound, Texas, is charged alongside former LAUSD technical project manager Hong “Grace” Peng, 53, of Pasadena, in what the District Attorney’s Office has described as one of the largest alleged money laundering schemes in district history.
Prosecutors allege Peng illegally participated in awarding contracts primarily tied to LAUSD’s MiSiS student information system to Innive, a company owned by Sampath, between 2018 and 2022. Those contracts totaled more than $22 million, according to the District Attorney’s Office…