Just before midnight, another highly paid consultant expensed a Lyft ride from the same house back to his Sacramento hotel.
Both submitted the rides as expenses associated with California's multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project.
After California's independent High-Speed Rail inspector general found widespread failures in consultant travel oversight, whistleblowers provided CBS California Investigates with some of the underlying expense records.
Among the receipts from two consultants, KPMG's Thierry Prate and Nossaman's Brent Butzin, we found a dozen rides between August 2025 and January 2026 to or from the small residential street in Folsom where High-Speed Rail CEO Ian Choudri owns a home. Another dozen rides, between September 2024 and August 2025, went to or from nearby Folsom restaurants and bars.
Many rides involved late-night or early-morning pickups, including two after 1 a.m.
But the receipts reveal previously undisclosed connections between consultants' travel expenses and the CEO's private residence.
The questions come as California's high-speed rail project continues to spend billions, nearly two decades after voters approved a bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the authority paid just four consulting contractors more than a quarter of a billion dollars over two fiscal years.
Who holds influence over this multibillion-dollar public project? Who makes the decisions? And who's accountable when those decisions cost taxpayers money?
'Related to work with Ian'
When the High-Speed Rail Authority questioned KPMG, the firm described one of Prate's rides to the CEO's residence as "related to work with Ian."
A late-night business meeting isn't necessarily inappropriate. Neither is visiting an executive's home.
Those details matter because California's travel rules require more than a receipt. They require a legitimate business purpose.
The receipts also document a food delivery to the same residence.
The receipt was in Prate's name, paid for on his KPMG corporate card.
The High-Speed Rail Authority disputed the food delivery, and records show the consultant accepted the dispute. Taxpayers ultimately didn't pay for the pizza.
But they reinforce the central question about the travel expenses.
The paperwork says Sacramento. The receipts show Folsom.
The CEO's home wasn't the only Folsom destination.
All of the destinations were in the same shopping center as the Land Ocean Steak House that the CEO frequents, according to multiple sources.
Butzin's expense paperwork reveals another apparent discrepancy.
But attached receipts document travel to restaurants and other locations in Folsom.
None of that establishes that the restaurant visits were personal, or that every expense required a separate entertainment disclosure.
The discrepancies also raise questions about what the High-Speed Rail Authority reviewed before approving the payment.
California's independent High-Speed Rail inspector general had already documented significant failures in the authority's travel oversight.
He identified nearly $600,000 in expenses that were unallowable under state regulations, contract terms or both.
The inspector general attributed approximately $57,200 to KPMG's contract and $3,900 to the legal-services contract.
But the inspector general found that the High-Speed Rail Authority frequently couldn't demonstrate that it had evaluated the business need or cost of the trips before approving the expenses.
That finding did not specifically concern the Folsom rides documented by CBS California.
"Learning the hard way"
When a contract manager reminded a Denver-based legal consultant, who we now know was Butzin, that he needed to explain his trips and obtain advance written approval, the consultant pushed back.
Then came a perceived warning.
The inspector general didn't identify the consultant by name. But the report's description matches Butzin's billing history, including his move from the legal-services contract to KPMG's financial-adviser contract.
The inspector general concluded that the CEO lacked authority to override the contract's travel requirements.
But sources inside the authority say the concerns extend beyond consultant travel.
The watchdog's findings provide documented examples of the tension between executive requests and the employees responsible for enforcing contract rules.
The authority also paid approximately $86,500 in billed travel time for the Denver-based consultant.
Separate receipts obtained by CBS California Investigates document expensive flights and hotel stays, including one airfare approaching $937 for a flight from Denver to Sacramento and one hotel night costing $587.
The expense records include airline tickets purchased shortly before departure.
But last-minute bookings can also cost significantly more.
The watchdog's findings raise a straightforward question: If the authority wasn't documenting why the travel was necessary or approving it in advance, how could it ensure taxpayers weren't paying more than they needed to?
In one exchange, Prate told the authority that Choudri had requested that he accompany him on a trip beginning the following day.
Approval came five minutes later.
But it shows how directly a request invoking the CEO could influence the approval process.
Hundreds of millions in consultant payments. Who's watching?
Over just two fiscal years, the authority paid four consulting contractors more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
The inspector general reviewed roughly half of that and found more than half was unallowable under state rules or contract terms.
If the authority couldn't enforce basic travel spending rules, who is overseeing the rest of the quarter-billion dollars paid to these consultants?
"Only travel that is pre-approved, within contract scope and consistent with state regulations will be eligible for reimbursement," the Authority said.
"KPMG takes seriously its obligations regarding the accurate submission of expenses and KPMG professionals are expected to be responsible stewards of client and firm resources," said Russ Grote, Managing Director of Corporate Affairs.
None of the three responded to requests for comment.
And that money wasn't for laying track.
California created its High-Speed Rail Authority 30 years ago, in 1996. Nearly two decades have passed since voters approved billions in funding for a bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, a CBS California investigation found the High-Speed Rail Authority, under Choudri, repeatedly missed its own deadlines to purchase trains. Federal officials cited those failures when they withdrew $4 billion in funding.
The authority says it is revising designs and changing the project's scope to reduce costs. The inspector general said much of the projected cost reduction reflected plans to build less, like reducing the plans from two tracks to one.
Whistleblowers inside the authority question whether the promised savings account for the costs of further delays and additional consultant work.
Who authorized those rides?
And what influence do these highly paid consultants have over the decisions driving the project's costs and schedule?
Who proposed the design changes? Who approved them? How much are consultants charging to revise the work? And do the projected savings outweigh the costs of delay?
The High-Speed Rail Authority's board meets Friday to review the inspector general's findings and the agency's response.
To be continued…
Why is California paying high-speed rail consultants to fly to Sacramento when they promised they would be based in Sacramento?
The firm promised its key personnel would relocate to Sacramento. But newly obtained receipts reveal three of the six are traveling in from out of state on the taxpayers' dime while one senior consultant's billing rate increased nearly 23%.
The watchdog questioned more than $76,000 in travel expenses. Our investigation reveals the receipts.
Hence then, the article about california high speed rail consultants billed taxpayers for late night rides from ceo s home receipts reveal was published today ( ) and is available on CBS sacramento ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( California high-speed rail consultants billed taxpayers for late-night rides from CEO's home, receipts reveal )
Also on site :
- CBS Called Variety a ‘Man’s Game’ in 1967 When Carol Burnett Asked for Her Own Show; 1 Forgotten Clause in Her Contract Changed Everything
- Carson Kressley Just Mic-Dropped Vicki Gunvalson’s ‘RHOC’ Motor Boating Outfit and the Internet Can’t Stop Screaming
- Elon Musk’s Exes Reveal His ‘Assembly Line’ Approach to Having Kids in New Documentary: ‘Somebody on Elon’s Side Referred to Us as “the Breeders”’