Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud failed to follow her own advice by awarding contracts to two political consulting firms worth around $2 million, over 15 years, that had vague language and disregarded city policies, an investigation into a whistleblower complaint found.
Doud, through her lawyer, Kate Corrigan, said she did nothing wrong and did not misappropriate any city funds.
The city commissioned the investigation into Doud, the report on which the Press-Telegram obtained this week through a public records request, to look into allegations a whistleblower made in September. The whistleblower said Doud, the elected city auditor, misappropriated city funds and committed contract fraud as far back as late 2006, according to the investigation’s report, conducted by RSM US, a consulting firm based in Chicago. The investigation said it substantiated some of the allegations.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office confirmed it received a copy of RSM’s report and will look into whether to conduct a criminal probe.
The city did not disclose the whistleblower’s complaint.
The whistleblower’s allegations, according to the investigation report, centered around Doud hiring two political consulting firms, Kindel Gagan and the Davis Group. In hiring those firms, Doud did not delineate services, terms or deliverables, the whistleblower said, according to the report.
Kindel Gagan did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Rick Davis, of the Davis Group, declined to...
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