California high-speed rail chief quits after audit flags consultant travel

What the audit found: The authority's inspector general reviewed about half of the roughly $2 million the agency paid in travel costs for four consulting firms in fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26. KCRA identified the firms as KPMG, Nossaman LLP, Systra-Typsa and AECOM-Fluor. The report found $81,000 in travel that appeared to break state travel rules and a separate $543,400 that was not allowed under the firms' contracts, including international and out-of-state travel.

From the report: About 60 percent of the reviewed travel, $680,500, had not been approved before it happened. The improper items included flight and rideshare upgrades and trips to gyms, an escape room and a nightclub. The inspector general wrote that contract managers "appeared to have little functional authority" and "often paid consultant travel expenses because of direction or an assumption that the CEO or a member of the executive team requested or desired the travel."

Timeline: Weeks before he resigned, the board limited Choudri's spending authority, KCRA reported. Earlier this year he was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery; the charges were later dropped for insufficient evidence, Newsweek reported. A person familiar with the matter told AP the board had weighed firing him.

What each side says: A spokesperson for Gov. Newsom said he is "committed to delivering the nation's first high-speed rail system and to protecting California taxpayers every single step of the way," KCRA reported. Kawa said "Californians deserve a project they can trust" and that "in a few months, we will begin to lay track," according to Newsweek. Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland called on the state to "pull the plug on the high-speed fail." Republican governor candidate Steve Hilton has said he would scrap the project on "day one," Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra said there would be a "new sheriff in town," and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called it a "boondoggle," Newsweek reported.

Weak spot (project supporters): Promises that track-laying is months away leave out cost: no track has been laid yet. The authority's own estimates put the full system at $126 billion to $231 billion, up from about $45 billion when it was first approved in 2008, Newsweek reported, and the Bakersfield-to-Merced segment alone is projected at $36 billion with a 2033 target, per KCRA.

Weak spot (critics): The travel payments that broke rules total about $624,000 by the report's count, a tiny share of the project's cost. Ending the project would not by itself return the billions already spent. The report's answer is a list of corrective actions for how the agency approves travel.

Sourcing: the authority's Office of Inspector General report 2026-INV-08 (Sept. 15, 2026), KCRA and Newsweek reporting from Oct. 29–30, and AP. Outlets cite different totals for the improper spending: Newsweek reports $592,900, while the report itself lists $81,000 that broke state travel rules and $543,400 that broke contract terms. We quote the report's figures. Photos are file images from the authority.