Gymnast Jordan Chiles’ Mom Gina Spent Time in Prison After She ‘Embezzled’ $1.2 Million: Prosecutors

Paris Olympian Jordan Chiles’ mom Gina Chiles served a federal prison sentence after being accused of embezzlement, according to court documents obtained by Heavy. However, Gina Chiles was released early from federal prison, KOIN.com reported.

According to KOIN.com, Gina Chiles “reported to federal prison in August” 2021 after being accused of “stealing more than $1 million.” Her sentence was delayed a month so she could watch her daughter compete in the Tokyo Olympics, the news site reported. Court documents obtained by Heavy show that Gina Chiles was initially sentenced to federal prison for one year and one day.

Despite those challenges, Jordan Chiles’ mother was in the stands cheering Jordan on as her daughter performed in the team finals at the Paris Olympics on July 30. Jordan Chiles helped Team USA win a gold medal in the team competition. Jordan Chiles has had a complicated Olympics; despite placing fourth in qualifiers for the individual all-around competition, according to USA Gymnastics, she did not advance to those finals because of a long-standing rule only allowing two gymnasts to advance from any country.

Gina Chiles was released from prison four months early, KOIN reported in May 2022. According to KOIN, Gina Chiles was released from prison on April 18, 2022, but the federal Bureau of Prisons wouldn’t explain why the sentence was cut short. However, the U.S. Attorney’s office told the television station that Gina “qualified for time off her sentence for good behavior.”

The government’s sentencing memorandum, obtained by Heavy through the federal court system, says, “Over the course of nearly four years, defendant Gina R. Chiles embezzled more than $1.2 million from clients of her burgeoning property-management business, Inspire Vision Property Management & Consulting (IVPMC).” The memorandum says that Gina Chiles pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

The defense sentencing memorandum asked for probation and cited mitigating factors. “In the present case, Ms. Chiles fully acknowledges the significant harm that she caused the victims in this case including private individuals with whom she had prior close relationships,” it says. “She quickly admitted her actions and tried to begin mitigating the financial harm and loss of trust that she had caused. Ms. Chiles has every intention of making her victims whole as much as possible.”

The government accused Gina Chiles of a “long-running scheme of skimming and shuffling client funds to the point of collapse.” The memorandum mentions Jordan, although not by name.

“Although defendant makes much of the adversity her family will suffer from her imprisonment, she does not live with her husband, and all of her children are adults. Defendant currently resides in Texas, where she assists her nineteen-year-old daughter in her athletic endeavors,” the government wrote. “That daughter’s demanding career is to be commended, but it does not render her vulnerable to any special harm of the sort that would be suffered by a disabled or very young child.”

Despite her mom’s issues, Jordan credits her parents with getting her started in gymnastics and both her mom and dad are currently serving as pastors. “Apostle Timothy Chiles is not only an anointed psalmist of the Lord, but God has graced him to move in the office of an Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Teacher, and he and his wife Pastor Gina Chiles currently serve as Senior Pastors of According to His Word- Vancouver,” the AHW Worship Center website says.

“My parents could not keep me from cartwheeling down the aisle of any open space or walking on my hands instead of my feet. People kept asking if I was in gymnastics. I had a lot of energy! So they put me in gym,” she says in her bio on the USA Gymnastics website.

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Jordan Chiles’ Mom, Gina Chiles, Was Called a ‘Total Operator’ by a Former Client, Reports Say

The government’s sentencing memorandum obtained by Heavy, which was filed in by the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Oregon in 2020, says that “the victims of the fraud included the very client who helped defendant launch IVPMC eight years ago—indeed that client was the primary victim.”

“Defendant concealed her thefts by doctoring bank statements and lying to homeowners until she had stolen so much she could no longer cover the resulting shortfalls by moving clients’ money around,” the memo says, adding, “All of her defrauded clients feel betrayed, and they still await repayment nearly two years after she started to come clean.”

According to the prosecution memorandum, “Though the proceedings themselves began in early 2020, defendant’s reckoning started a year before, when she tearfully acknowledged to Victim #1 and the victim’s accountant that she had ‘mismanaged’ more than $700,000 of Victim #1’s money. That emotional (though only partial) confession resulted less from contrition, it appears than the inevitable and imminent discovery of her crimes.”

According to KOIN, one client, Karla Pearlstein, “lost $945,000 after renting the Victorian Belle Mansion in North Portland to Chiles to run as a wedding venue.”

To KOIN.com, Pearlstein called Gina Chiles “somebody that has absolutely no shame. She is an operator. I mean, she was a total operator.”

The government’s memorandum says the government asked for 15 months in prison, although noting that Gina Chiles lacked a “criminal history” and had “seemingly limited risk of recidivism.”

The government contended in the memorandum that “Victim #1’s accountant had recently learned of a $148,792.72 construction lien on one of the properties that defendant managed for Victim #1, despite the fact that the victim had given defendant money to pay for the job months earlier.”

The government memorandum accuses Gina Chiles of costing “Victim #1 more than $945,000, and yet it was only possible due to the generosity and professional support Victim #1 had shown defendant. Victim #1 is a committed preservationist who owns several historically significant homes and residential buildings in the Portland metropolitan area.”

The defense memorandum describes Gina Chiles, then age 46, as having been “a model citizen for her entire life. Despite having at times an unstable childhood, including being a victim of abuse, Ms. Chiles has successfully raised a family and has lived a stable and productive life other than the conduct which led to her conviction in the current case.”

“She has shown to be a person of high moral character including countless examples of putting others first in her life,” it adds.

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Gina Chiles Was Accused of Diverting Money From Client Accounts for Personal Use

The government’s memorandum accused Gina Chiles of also recruiting “other property-owners, including at least two condominium homeowners’ associations (HOAs) in Portland. Defendant’s new business, in short, was growing and doing well. But not well enough.”

“By the end of 2014, defendant had started diverting money from client accounts for her personal use by sweeping cash from the properties’ trust accounts into her IVPMC operating accounts and thence to unauthorized expenditures,” it says.

“The wire fraud charged in the Information reflects just one such transaction: a May 4, 2018, wire transfer of $50,080.00 from a Washington-based operating account for one of Victim #1’s properties (Harrison Court) to IVPMC’s Key Bank account in
Portland,” the memorandum notes.

According to that memorandum, “Victim #1 bought a Victorian mansion that had been used primarily as a wedding venue but was at risk of demolition. Victim #1 had no interest in operating a wedding business, but defendant saw an opportunity for herself and her family.”

The memo says Gina Chiles “proposed to lease the property from Victim #1 for a new enterprise, Inspire Wedding and Events (IWE), which her brother would operate. Although IWE had some early success— including winning a $50,000 cash prize in a Christmas lights contest sponsored by ABC for its ‘Miracle of a Million Lights’ display—the business proved costlier to run than defendant and her family could manage.”

By the end of 2015, “defendant had started diverting substantial amounts from IVPMC client accounts to meet payroll and other expenses at IWE,” it says.

The government wrote that Gina Chiles spent most of the “ill-gotten gains propping up her businesses,” but also spent money on travel, as well as “more than $53,000 at retail stores and personal service providers, $166,000 in investments in her children’s businesses, and nearly $40,000 in untraceable cash outlays.”

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Jordan Chiles Has Described Her Mom, Gina Chiles, as Her ‘Rock,’ Reports Say

Jordan Chiles told People.com in 2024 that she “can’t thank” her parents, Gina and Timothy Chiles, enough.

“They are still on this journey with me and still making sacrifices,” she told People. “This sport is tough on the athletes, but the parents go through every emotion too — especially my mom who cannot watch me without almost passing out.”

“My mom has been my biggest supporter from the beginning, and she has helped me become the person I am today,” Chiles continued. “She helped me to remember that my dream was mine and mine alone. It was up to me to give the power to people who would fuel my journey or to change directions and walk away on my own terms. She taught me that no one had the power to just take it away. She is my rock.”

Gina Chiles opened up to “The Today Show’s” Hoda Kotb about her daughter in 2021.

“Every moment that I watch Jordan is the most amazing moment as a mom,” she said on the show. “And so I just am looking at it as not bittersweet, but just a sweet period that she’s here.”

“The Today Show” reported that Gina was “fighting back tears” as she spoke.

The defense memo said that Gina Chiles “lives modestly in a small home in Vancouver with her husband who is a pastor of a small church in the community. She is very active in the church and is always available to help those in need. She is a woman of genuine faith.”

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