This class covers the investigation into Gina Gregori and her corporations, her methods of committing fraud, how we charged the case, the appointment and cost-benefit analysis of a receiver, the freezing and seizing of assets, as well as the outcome. Investigation revealed that Gina Gregori submitted falsified EDD documents to SCIF and later to Everest, claiming far lower payroll than stated in the records she filed with EDD. On several occasions, she changed the company name, though we charged three corporations as co-defendants, and substituted a family member for herself as the listed owner, making hers appear to be a newly established company to obtain lower premiums. The prosecution secured numerous court orders freezing the assets of the janitorial company, Ms. Gregori, her family members, and her on-again-off-again boyfriend, and placing them in a receivership. The employees, the majority of whom were undocumented, could thereby continue to work. We will discuss how the investigation continued long after arraignment in court. Bank records and a new police report reflected Ms. Gregori running another janitorial business, “Heart & Soul”. Despite the court’s orders, Ms. Gregori excluded from the purview of the receivership the renaming of the business, earnings, and payments to employees. In late 2021, over the defendants’ objections, the court granted the People’s motion to add to the complaint a contempt of court charge. Finally, we will cover the settlement in which all four defendants pled guilty to felony insurance fraud, agreed to pay $8,382,788.45 in restitution, and Ms. Gregori paid $300,000 up front, as well as turned herself in to begin serving out her six-year split sentence.
