Alleged Ponzi scammer Palasini back in Mississippi
Former fugitive Gina Palasini arrived this week in Mississippi, where she awaits her fate on a series of charges related to what federal investigators call a massive Ponzi scheme with too many victims to count.
Palasini owned several businesses claiming to help clients obtain government benefits but instead, victims say, she stole their money and jeopardized their eligibility with Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
She was extradited to Sunflower County from Palm Springs, California, where she had been held since her Aug. 29 arrest on a warrant by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The 52-year-old faces nearly a quarter-century in prison if she's convicted of all three charges currently against her in Sunflower and Wayne counties.
She could face additional charges in an active fraud case against her by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, whose investigators said they will interview her now that she's in custody.
U.S. Postal Inspector Kyle Parker said victims lost anywhere from $500 to more than $340,000 in a scheme that spanned several years and at least two states.
Most victims doubt they'll ever recover their money.
All said Palasini should face years behind bars for what she allegedly did to them.
Palasini will stay in jail until her arraignment hearing on the felony bad check charge in Sunflower County, said District Attorney Dewayne Richardson, who estimated that might happen in early October. If found guilty, she faces up to three years behind bars.
Even if the judge sets a bond at the arraignment, Palasini cannot be released while awaiting trial, Richardson said. She instead will be transferred to the Wayne County jail until sentencing on a felony false pretense charge.
She pleaded guilty to that crime in December and was out on bond under a delayed-sentencing agreement that required her to pay restitution to her victims. She never did.
She faces 10 years in prison on that count, but District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell says he'll argue for 15.
"When she pleaded guilty, the maximum sentence was 15 years," Mitchell said. "But the law changed since then, and now it's 10 years. We're going to make an argument that she should be going under the old law."
Mitchell said he also might try Palasini on a second felony false pretense charge for which she had been indicted. That could add an additional 10 years.
"I would assume this is going to be a pretty quick turnaround," Mitchell said of the sentencing.
Contact Emily Le Coz at elecoz@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7249. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.