Emotionless in Court: The Unraveling Story of Disgraced LAUSD Employee Grace Peng

A former employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) faced a downtown court on Friday, charged with involvement in a significant money laundering operation.

Hong “Grace” Peng, 53, previously a technical project manager for LAUSD, entered a plea of not guilty to accusations of participating in a staggering $22 million kickback scheme.

This case unfolds amidst existing accusations of fraud surrounding LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, adding to the district’s ongoing controversies.

Peng, a resident of Pasadena, appeared in court wearing a blue pin-striped jacket and collared shirt, her dark hair neatly tied back. She stood before Judge Theresa McGonigle in Department 30, following the issuance of a $500,000 warrant mandating her presence.

During the proceedings, Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins from the Public Integrity Division disclosed that 24,000 pages of evidence would be handed over to Peng’s defense team.

Represented by private attorney Rayn Gravelly, Peng remained composed, her head slightly bowed, throughout the 10-minute session. She spoke only once, affirming her understanding of the proceedings with a single “yes” when questioned by the judge.

She was released on her own recognizance, and declined to speak to The California Post. 

Peng was required to surrender all passports and wear an ankle monitor with GPS tracking. She is forbidden from leaving the U.S. and will require permission from the court to leave California. 

She was ordered to attend a local police station to be booked, photographed and finger-printed. 

A preliminary setting hearing is scheduled for June 10. 

Attorney Higgins told The Post after the hearing that the number of pages of evidence will exceed the 24,000 number he mentioned in court.

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Peng faces two felony charges — money laundering and having a financial interest in an official contract— for her alleged role in the scheme. The allegations date back to 2018.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman called the racket the largest kickback scheme ever in the nation’s second-largest school system.

“This case involves a blatant abuse of public trust — funneling taxpayer dollars intended for students into personal coffers,” Hochman said in a statement on March 26.

The “multi-year, multi-contract pay-to-play arrangement … siphoned millions of dollars from our schools.”

An arrest warrant was issued for Peng on March 19.

Peng’s co-accused, Gautham Sampath of Flower Mound, Texas, was a senior executive at Innive, the company that received the LAUSD contracts.

Their alleged scheme was exposed in 2022, after one of the involved parties bragged about it at a professional conference and was overheard by another LAUSD employee who reported the comments to district officials, the official complaint.

Sampath is expected to be arraigned on April 17.