Sent to prison in $26M fraud case

LOS ANGELES — A woman who bilked investors in a Southern California hotel and condominium project out of at least $26 million was sentenced this week to 20 years in federal prison.

Ruixue “Serena” Shi, 38, of Arcadia, was sentenced after a judge refused to allow her to withdraw her plea last year to wire fraud.

Prosecutors said that from late 2015 to mid-2018, Shi was the general manager of a real estate company based in China that had a Los Angeles office. She solicited investments, mainly from Chinese investors, in a 207-unit luxury complex to be built in the city of Coachella, in the desert southeast of Los Angeles.

Shi spent much of the money on cars, travel, clothing and dining, prosecutors said.