The long-time chief financial officer for Clinicas del Camino Real has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the nonprofit health system, claiming she was fired for telling her employers they were violating fiscal guidelines in federal contracts.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 19 in Ventura County Superior Court, alleges Chris Velasco was wrongfully terminated in an act of retaliation and discrimination. It comes on the heels of a federal investigation that concluded her ouster was payback for allegations involving CEO Dr. Gagan Pawar and Board President Chuck Hookstra.

Velasco told the investigators she complained to Pawar and others that the board, as a governing body, did not have the authority to purchase services for Clinicas but did so anyway. She alleged the board didn't put contracts out to bid but instead awarded them to friends and colleagues. She said Pawar signed off on the transactions.

The investigation by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has been submitted to the agency’s leader, Secretary Xavier Becerra, for a final decision. Pawar said the health system was still awaiting that decision.

The CEO said she couldn’t comment on the lawsuit because it's a pending legal matter but earlier offered a denial to similar claims made in the federal investigative report.

"We do not accept any allegations of Clinicas wrongdoing in this report, which has not yet been adopted or acted upon by the agency itself," she wrote in a text.

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