Olympian Jordan Chiles’ mother to enter federal prison on day her daughter competes

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After the Olympics begin next week in Tokyo, Vancouver’s Jordan Chiles could become a household name as part of the U.S. gymnastics team.

But the same day she is expected to compete for Olympic team gold, her mother, Gina Chiles, is set to report to federal prison.

Gina Chiles pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to federal prison for one year and one day.

According to court documents, she ran Inspire Vision Property Management LLC, a commercial properties management business. The documents say she admitted to stealing from her clients and said she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on personal expenses.

NewsNation affiliate KOIN spoke with Gina Chiles at the U.S. Olympic trials in St. Louis about the children’s book she wrote — “Dream Big Little Chick,” inspired by her daughter — but was unaware she owed her clients more than $1.2 million.

Federal court papers say one client, Karla Pearlstein, lost $945,000 after renting the Victorian Belle Mansion in North Portland, Missouri, to Gina Chiles to run as a wedding venue.

Pearlstein, who helped Gina Chiles start Inspire Vision, now describes her as “somebody that has absolutely no shame. She is an operator. I mean, she was a total operator.”

Court documents say that “over the course of nearly 4 years … Chiles embezzled … from clients” and “had stolen so much she could no longer cover the resulting shortfalls by moving clients’ money around.”

Gina Chiles interviewed at US Olympic Gymnastics Trials about her new book, “Dream Big Little Chick”

“I just happened to lift the flap of her copy machine,” Pearlstein said. “And I realized that she was falsifying bank statements. She had a Key Bank statement and she was, like, taping over the numbers on the statement to show what she wanted it to show.”

KOIN tried to reach both Gina Chiles and her lawyers but did not immediately hear back.

When she gets out of prison, she’s ordered to begin paying $1.2 million in restitution.

“Gina is very charming and she seems like, apparently to the court, she seemed like she was a low risk,” Pearlstein said. “They were pushing back her imprisonment date because of her daughter’s Olympic work. I really think that what she got was a, basically, a slap on the wrist.”

Gina Chiles has to surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on July 27 — the same day her daughter and the rest of Team USA Gymnastics is expected to compete.