LA City Controller Subpoenas LA28, Gives Organizers 15 Days to Hand Over 2028 Olympics Financial Records
Los Angeles is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia on Friday, October 16, subpoenaed LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, demanding that it provide financial records and documents owed to the city within 15 days. Mejia's office said the subpoena was issued under his authority in the City Charter; as the city's accountant, auditor and paymaster, the controller is responsible for assessing the city's financial exposure from hosting the 2028 Games.
The dispute stems from the 2021 Games Agreement between the city and LA28. The agreement requires LA28 to disclose information annually under nine subsections, including the name, type, amount, term and purpose of every contract worth more than $1 million, along with schedules and budgets for venue construction projects. Under the deal, Los Angeles backstops the Games financially and is on the hook for a first share of losses, so the committee's books bear directly on taxpayers.
Mejia made a formal request for the financial information in August, with a deadline of September 28. His office then reviewed every LA28 document in the city's possession and determined that LA28 was in compliance with only two of the nine subsections, while the requested documents were otherwise either incomplete or wholly absent. The missing material includes comparisons of financial forecasts against actual results, bank statements, venue schedules and budgets, the identity of contractors, and the values and purposes of contracts.
On the day of the September 28 deadline, LA28 asserted that it had already shared the requested information with city liaisons including the mayor, the city attorney, the chief legislative analyst and the city administrative officer. LA28 has also argued that public disclosure of contract details could be financially detrimental to its sponsorship and contracting negotiations. A representative for LA28 did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the subpoena.
"LA28's refusal to comply with my office's request after years of withholding information that they are contractually obligated to provide to the city of LA is unacceptable. My responsibility is to protect taxpayer dollars, and I will use my full authority under the City Charter to assess the City's financial exposure of hosting the 2028 Games," Mejia said in a statement. (GSM, based on the statement from the Office of the Los Angeles City Controller and reporting by MyNewsLA and LA Patriot)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：洛杉矶市政厅（Los Angeles City Hall），洛杉矶市主计长办公室所在地。Photo: Los Angeles City Hall, home to the Office of the City Controller. Busition / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
