California high-speed rail consultants billed taxpayers for late-night rides

In the late hours of September last year, two consultants employed by the California High-Speed Rail Authority incurred expenses for Lyft rides from the authority's CEO's residence in Folsom, California. Brent Butzin, a Denver attorney and legal-services consultant, and Thierry Prate, a KPMG managing director, both submitted these rides as project-related expenses.

This practice was not an isolated incident; multiple late-night and early-morning rides were documented from the CEO's home, with costs billed to the high-speed rail project.

The California High-Speed Rail Inspector General's investigation revealed widespread failures in the oversight of consultant travel, leading to the exposure of these irregularities. CBS California Investigates obtained nearly 6,000 pages of expense records from KPMG and Nossaman, which revealed a dozen rides between August 2025 and January 2026 to and from the Folsom residence, and another dozen rides to or from nearby Folsom restaurants and bars. Many of these rides occurred after 1 a.m.

The receipts do not specify who was present at the residence or the purpose of these visits. However, they raise questions about the approval of these expenses and who oversaw the consultant travel. The project has been under construction for nearly two decades, with California spending billions but failing to lay a single mile of track. The state has also lost $4 billion in federal funding due to missed deadlines, and the High-Speed Rail Authority warns it could run out of money by the end of 2027.

Despite these challenges, the authority has paid more than $250 million to four consulting contractors over two fiscal years. Sources within the High-Speed Rail Authority suggest that the Inspector General's findings may point to a broader issue. The central question remains: what state business justifies repeatedly charging the project for transportation to and from the CEO's private home?

While the paperwork cites Sacramento, the receipts show Folsom, highlighting a discrepancy between the CEO's official location and the consultants' frequent visits to his personal residence.