I Did It

I Did It is the story of Gina Champion-Cain, the mastermindbehind the largest woman-led Ponzi scheme in US history—$400 million. Thisreal-life story includes a multitude of participants, banks, hedge funds,egomaniacs, and small-time crooks, all fueled by greed, stupidity, and a keendesire to look the other way. And even when they were looking in the rightdirection, all of these people and entities saw nothing. Gina was the Penn andTeller of misdirection, acting with caring behavior to other people (whilebilking her investors), creating philanthropic endeavors and single-mindedlypursuing her dream of building an empire, taking it public, and cashing out allthe investors. In August 2019, Gina’s seven-year program of selling phony liquor licenseloans came to an end when the SEC, the US Attorney’s Office, and the FBI filedsuit and shut it down. In San Diego, Gina, then fifty-four, was an icon. To theoutside world, this beautiful, charismatic woman looked as if she had succeededin a male-dominated good old boys club—building an empire that included realestate, restaurants, and retail; she was a guest economics commentator for theSan Diego Union-Tribune; she served on prestigious corporate and nonprofitboards. The City of San Diego even honored her with her own Gina Champion-CainDay. She cooked dinner for her husband Steve, walked the dogs on the beach, andwas a role model for young women. But in reality, her empire was a house ofcards funded with money from a financial fraud.