The hand-picked CEO of California's $128 billion High Speed Rail project was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery, and now a Central Valley congresswoman is demanding his head on a platter. Ian Choudri, who Gavin Newsom tapped just months ago to lead the state's most expensive infrastructure boondoggle, is on paid leave while investigators dig into the arrest and a separate conflict-of-interest scandal involving his fiancee and a firm with a $24 million rail contract.
The timing could not have been worse for Newsom. On Feb. 4, Choudri stood beside the governor at a press conference celebrating the completion of a 150-acre construction facility meant to speed up the long-delayed rail project. Hours later, police arrested Choudri at his Folsom home on suspicion of domestic battery after a neighbor called 911 just before midnight.
According to people familiar with the incident, the neighbor spotted Choudri, his fiancee Lyudmyla "Mila" Starostyuk, and his teenage daughter arguing in the front yard. The 57-year-old rail executive allegedly tried to step into an altercation between Starostyuk and his daughter. He was taken into custody that night. As of now, no formal charges have been filed.
Rep. Alexandra Macedo, whose San Joaquin Valley district overlaps with the troubled rail corridor, fired off a letter to Newsom on Feb. 25 demanding Choudri's resignation. She did not mince words. Macedo wrote that Choudri's "continued tenure would irreparably damage the public's trust in their government."
She went further, calling his leadership "not only untenable, but also an insult to every taxpayer in the Central Valley and throughout the State of California." For residents who have watched billions pour into a rail line that still hasn't carried a single passenger, the frustration is real. The arrest just put a face on it.
The domestic battery arrest might be the headline grabber, but the conflict-of-interest angle could prove far more damaging. Choudri's fiancee, Starostyuk, was hired last month by KPMG, the accounting services giant that holds a $24 million contract with the High Speed Rail Authority. Let that sink in. The CEO's soon-to-be wife landed a job at a firm pulling in tens of millions from the very project her partner runs.
Choudri's attorney, Allen Sawyer, insists there is nothing to see here. Sawyer told KCRA that Starostyuk's position "is not affiliated with the high speed rail authority or any other rail authority in any capacity" and that her role "concerns a completely different sector of business." Maybe so. But in a project already drowning in cost overruns and public skepticism, the optics are brutal.
The governor is doing what politicians do best when things go sideways: creating space between himself and the problem. Newsom's office released a statement noting that "Mr. Choudri was hired by and reports directly to the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board," a careful bit of bureaucratic deflection designed to shift accountability away from the governor's office.
But Macedo's letter called Choudri "hand-picked" by Newsom, and the facts support that characterization. Newsom appointed Choudri in August 2024, and the two appeared side by side at that Feb. 4 press event just hours before the arrest. At a Feb. 19 press conference, Newsom acknowledged that the rail authority board is investigating both the arrest and the broader conflict-of-interest questions. He said the board would "appropriately investigate not only the issues that were brought to light but some of these broader issues as well."
Here's the part that should make every California taxpayer's blood boil. Officials told KCRA that Choudri is using paid time off during his administrative leave. So while investigators look into whether the CEO of a $128 billion public works project had a financial conflict of interest and was arrested for battery, he's collecting a paycheck funded by the same people Macedo says he insulted.
This is standard government procedure, of course. Innocent until proven guilty, due process, all of it. But for a project that has become a national punchline for government waste, paying a sidelined executive while two separate investigations play out is a tough sell to voters who were promised a bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco and got, well, nothing that moves yet.
The High Speed Rail project has been a masterclass in government mismanagement since voters approved a $9.95 billion bond measure back in 2008. The original price tag was $33 billion. That ballooned to $77 billion. The latest estimates now top $128 billion, and the completion date keeps getting pushed further into the future. The only stretch under active construction runs through the Central Valley, far from the major population centers it was supposed to connect.
Choudri was brought in to fix the mess. He was supposed to be the competent executive who could cut through the red tape and actually deliver results. Instead, six months into the job, he's sitting at home on paid leave while investigators pick apart his personal life and his fiancee's employment history. The project, already years behind schedule and tens of billions over budget, is now leaderless on top of everything else.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority Board and the California State Transportation Agency are both conducting reviews. Newsom's office says it will wait for those reviews to wrap up before commenting further. Macedo and other critics aren't waiting. They want Choudri gone now.
No charges have been filed in the Feb. 4 incident, and Choudri's attorney maintains that the conflict-of-interest concerns are baseless. But in the court of public opinion, the damage is done. A project that has become synonymous with government bloat and broken promises now has a CEO arrested for domestic battery and a fiancee working for a contractor billing the state $24 million. You couldn't write a better script for why so many Americans have lost faith in government's ability to do anything right.
This scandal is about more than one executive. It's about a system that keeps failing upward. California voters approved this project nearly two decades ago expecting a world-class rail system. What they got is an unfinished construction site in the Central Valley, a revolving door of leadership, and now a CEO who couldn't make it six months without landing in handcuffs. Every dollar spent on this project is a dollar that could have gone to roads, water infrastructure, or simply stayed in taxpayers' pockets.
Macedo's letter may or may not force Choudri out. But the real question isn't whether one executive keeps his job. It's whether California will ever have the courage to pull the plug on a project that has become the most expensive monument to government incompetence in American history.
