Crime queen details prison sex terror as she begs for early release
A $400 million Ponzi scheme scammer has detailed horrific prison sex abuse she says she's suffered as she makes a bid to be freed eight years early.
Gina Champion-Cain, 59, says one guard at the notorious FCI Dublin in California told her 'Welcome to hell... I can show you what a real man feels like,' shortly after she began her 15 year sentence there in March 2021.
Champion-Cain, who ruined the lives of hundreds of investors with her scam, says guards at the sex-abuse plagued lock-up also watched women shower and ripped open shower curtains to terrorize them.
She claims she was sexually-abused and says the alleged horror meted out at the hands of staff means she should be released from detention now and not in January 2033, when she is scheduled to complete her sentence.
FCI Dublin prison housed high-profile inmates like actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, who were jailed after the college admissions scandal, and actress and sex-cult recruiter Allison Mack.
The systematic sexual abuse of inmates by guards and staff was exposed in 2022 and it was eventually shut down and its former warden Ray Garcia was jailed.
Prisoners described being forced to strip and have sex on camera, guards groping their genitals, and one was mocked after complaining a maintenance worker raped her.
Other was coerced into sex or given perks like fried chicken as rewards for complying with their sexual demands.
Gina Champion-Cain, 59, who swindled $400 million from hundreds of investors in a Ponzi scheme, is pushing to be released after being sexually abused in prison
Champion-Cain, 57, walks into Federal Court in San Diego in March 2021 for her sentencing hearing. She was sentenced to 15 years in connection with a $400 million Ponzi scheme
Champion-Cain made several requests for early release, a sentence reduction, or to finish her term at home, all of which were denied.
Now she is seeking clemency from President Joe Biden before he leaves office, which would release her from jail with time served.
Her release is set for January 9, 2033, which is a discount of more than three years due to good behavior.
'I felt like a helpless fly trapped in my sadistic abuser's web of dominance,' she wrote in court documents filed in federal court in Northern California.
'The worst part is I keep reliving these traumatic experiences over and over again, triggered by certain sights and smells, extreme anxiety while taking my showers, and even sounds like footsteps of guards and the rattling of their keys outside my room at night.'
Champion-Cain wrote that her husband of 32 years divorced her soon after she told him about the abuse.
'He simply could not handle it nor handle my new difficulty in sustaining relationships due the abuse,' she wrote
Champion-Cain was shipped off to FCI Dublin, an infamous women's prison known as the 'rape club', where she claimed she was sexually abused
The low-security, all-female profile has houses some high-profile inmates in the past, including Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman, Full House's Lori Loughlin, and Smallville star-turned sex cultist Allison Mack. Each served sentences of two years or less, from 2019 to 2021
'My parents, in their 80s, have suffered greatly in that they feel so helpless and ineffective as parents while they have watched me spiral in a downward arc of depression and sadness.'
A petition to draw attention to her clemency effort, written by California Coalition for Women Prisoners member and former FCI Dublin inmate Kendra Drysdale, included more details.
'Gina was denied routine dental and medical care like mammograms despite a history of cancer,' the petition read.
'There was no access to psychological treatment after reporting the sexual abuse, and she was denied access to a cardiac specialist after an episode of supraventricular tachycardia (irregular rapid heartbeat) in which her heart had to be stopped and restarted with drugs and electrical defibrillation.
'The ER doctor stated in his report that she should see a specialist within a day or two.'
Champion-Cain was transferred to FCI Pekin in Illinois when Dublin closed in April, and the petition claimed this prompted more abuse from guards.
'The transfer was horrific, with numerous reports of abuse by guards who blamed the women inmates for the closure and resultant loss of jobs,' it claimed.
'She described the abuse her group endured: threats, name calling, long hours of exposure to cold and loud music with sexual lyrics, sleep and excretion deprivation, water and food deprivation, and the denial of medication to those with special medical needs.'
Former warden Ray Garcia, (pictured), is serving a six year sentence sexually abusing three female inmates. He was convicted for molesting inmates and forcing them to pose naked
The petition explained that she gave a report of this to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and days later her request for home confinement was denied by the Bureau of Prisons after being ignored for a year.
'This sudden denial after a year of silence was an obvious act of retaliation for her cooperation with the Senate inquiry,' the petition claimed.
The petition claimed that other than the sexual abuse, conditions at FCI Pekin were not much better, and caused her PTSD symptoms.
'She has admitted to emotional distress: mood swings, inability to sleep, flashbacks and feelings that the same events will happen again,' it read.
'At 103 pounds, she is seriously underweight for a 5'5' tall, 59-year-old woman.'
Champion-Cain also argued she should be granted clemency because of her cooperation with authorities.
Investors were robbed of about $183 million in net losses, but got most of it back from sales of Champion-Cain's assents and finding money hidden in escrow accounts.
'Gina has repeatedly expressed remorse for misusing investor monies to allay the financial pressures of her extensive business enterprise,' the petition claimed.
Champion-Cain is pictured traveling with a puppy and an unnamed woman aboard a private jet in 2017
Champion-Cain made several requests for early release, a sentence reduction, or to finish her term at home, all of which were denied
'She has also fully cooperated with the authorities in any way she could to achieve a return of investor monies, which is 98 per cent returned to date and expected to be 100 per cent by year-end.'
The percentages cited by the petition were unverified.
Prosecutors took her cooperation into account when presenting an 11-year plea deal to the court, but it was rejected by District Judge Larry Burns.
He noted that many of the victims were friends she had known for years, and ruled she should spent 15 years behind bars.
'This went on for seven years. This wasn't just strangers hoping to get rich. This is a level of deceit and betrayal I wasn't fully aware of,' he said in his sentencing.
He told Champion-Cain her scheme, which he described as a 'monumental crime,' demonstrated 'tremendous callousness' and 'extreme avarice'.
Champion-Cain earlier this year applied for a sentence reduction, arguing prosecutors 'acted arbitrarily and in bad faith' by not asking for one themselves, due to her ongoing cooperation.
This was rejected by Judge Burns, who ruled she already got enough consideration in the original sentencing.
'The reasons supporting the defendant's original sentence - the scope, duration, and calamitous consequences of her offenses, the concepts of just punishment, promoting respect for the law, and the need for specific and general deterrence - continue to have great force and effect,' he wrote.
'The court finds these factors militate against further reduction of the defendant's sentence.'
The petition further argued Champion-Cain was a 'model prisoner' and had a job offer as a paralegal waiting for her if she was able to access the internet.
'Gina has done everything possible to rehabilitate herself,' it argued.
'By any measure, whether it is redress warranted by the abuse she has suffered or an evaluation of her rehabilitation, she deserves to be placed back in society where she can use her talents and education in service to her community.'
Champion-Cain outside court on March 31, 2021, some of her last steps as a free woman before she was jailed for 15 years inside
Champion-Cain was best known in San Diego as a successful restaurateur who ran a chain of now-closed Patio restaurants
At least eight FCI Dublin staffers have been charged with sexually abusing inmates, with seven found guilty.
Five pleaded guilty for a deal to get less prison time, while two - including Garcia - were convicted at trial.
More than 100 former inmates, including Champion-Cain, sued the Department of Corrections - either by themselves or as part of a huge class-action lawsuit.
Champion-Cain was best known for her chain of now-closed Patio restaurants but also had clothing and vacation rental businesses.
The scheme involved Champion-Cain getting people to invest in a business - American National Investments - that supposedly made high-interest loans to businesses seeking California liquor licenses.
Instead, some of the investment money was used to repay earlier investors in a classic Ponzi scheme, authorities said.
Other money went to propping up Champion-Cain's failing businesses including a juice bar, and the now-defunct surf-themed clothing store Luv Surf Boutique.
But millions more paid for Champion-Cain's two high-end homes in San Diego and Rancho Mirage, California; a $80,000 BMW for a family member; $200,000 worth of jewelry from Tiffany & Co and other retailers,
She also bought box seats for San Diego Padres and Chargers games that cost more than $800,000 over the course of several years.
Champion-Cain's family also is said to own this $1million home in Rancho Mirage, California
Champion-Cain got people to invest in a company that supposedly made loans to businesses seeking liquor licenses. She then used investor money to buy a $80,000 BMW, $200,000 worth of jewelry, and box seats at sporting events
Champion-Cain used at least $2 million of investor funds to pay her own salary. For example, in 2018 alone she earned an annual gross salary of $480,000.
She also used at least $745,000 of the misbegotten funds to pay credit card bills from 2012 to 2019, bought a golf cart for her mansion for nearly $22,000, made a $20,000 donation to her alma mater and and spent more than $12,000 on airline tickets to Florence, Italy.
The scheme took in at least $372 million from more than 490 investors, who lost at least $180 million.
Some of the cheated investors lost all of their life's savings, and at least one was forced into bankruptcy.
According to court records, Champion-Cain and her co-conspirators kept the scheme going by, among other things, fabricating documents, forging signatures, and lying to investors through fake email accounts.
This was so when investors tried to inquire about their investments with third parties, they were often really communicating with Champion-Cain or her staff.
On one occasion, Champion-Cain emailed an escrow company employee when investors tried to ask questions: 'I told them NEVER to call and bother you ladies'.
'If they call asking about escrow agreements and alcohol licenses, blah, blah, blah … just say 'SURE WHATEVER NOW SHOW ME THE MONEY … HAHAHAHA.'
Champion-Cain (left), an avid golfer, bought a golf cart for her mansion for nearly $22,000
When Champion-Cain and her cohorts learned in 2019 of two parallel investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI into the Ponzi scheme, they tried to destroy incriminating evidence, including stacks of documents, emails, video surveillance footage, and accounting records, according to court records.
Backed into a corner, Champion-Cain even tried to solicit an investment of $150 million in the hopes that she could use the money to hide her scheme.
Champion-Cain pleaded guilty to conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice.
She wrote in a statement to a probation officer last year that she had intended for the lending program to be legitimate but it grew out of control and she began 'making up' deals.
'I always told myself that I would be able to pay these notes back someday with the massive growth of the empire I was trying to build,' she wrote.
Chicago Title, the escrow company that Champion-Cain used to hold investor money she raised, was sued by investors and so far has reached settlements with nearly 200 of them for more than $60 million.
Crispin Torres the former financial officer of American National Investments, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the scheme and was sentenced last month to four years in prison.
