Indiana Economic Development Corp. says 2025 audit’s issues ‘addressed’ while new one launched

The Braun administration says it has dealt with all oversight issues raised in last year’s Indiana Economic Development Corp. audit — and that officials are cooperating with a new review from the state attorney general’s office.

The agency and its affiliated Indiana Economic Development Foundation have continued to face scrutiny since the audit ordered by Gov. Mike Braun found many instances of lax adherence to ethics policies and questionable spending on overseas travel.

IEDC forensic analysis highlights lackluster oversight and questionable spending

During a State Budget Committee meeting on Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Fady Qaddoura asked Braun’s commerce secretary, Chuck Goodrich, whether all the issues identified had been resolved.

“We have studied the audit,” Goodrich said. “I know that we have corrected, I think, every item on the audit.”

The audit was released in October 2025. It covered “findings” such as failures by the IEDC to investigate undisclosed conflicts of interest involving agency executives and “observations” of issues including the lack of a conflict of interest policy on companies giving money to the foundation.

Clinton Bohm, the IEDC’s chief financial officer, told the committee that the “actual findings have all been addressed.”

“The observations, we’re working on policies to put into place so that we can operate in a way that would alleviate those,” Bohm said.

Braun administration officials had said last year the Indiana Economic Development Foundation was “moving toward wind-down” after the audit found that over a five-year period about $11 million of its $13 million in spending was for travel, meals and entertainment. 

The foundation, however, continues to operate with additional transparency policies.

“We actually built a business plan for the foundation that’s very specific on where the money is raised and why we raise it,” Goodrich said.

New audit launched by attorney general

Those steps are occurring while state Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office has hired the same national consulting firm that did last year’s IEDC audit to specifically review the foundation’s travel and entertainment spending.

The attorney general’s office signed a contract in August with FTI Consulting for the review costing up to $275,000. 

The contract, which wasn’t announced publicly by the office, is for FTI to review a “risk-based sample selection” of 100 travel and entertainment expenses paid for by the foundation between Jan. 1, 2022, and June 30 of this year. That covers part of former Gov. Eric Holcomb’s tenure and Braun.

“Contractor will evaluate whether T&E expenditures were reasonable, properly documented, and consistent with the IEDF’s stated mission and the intended purposes of IEDF funding,” according to the contract.

Provisions of the contract say the attorney general’s office might broaden the review’s scope to include “whether recipient organizations failed to execute their stated missions, failed to use IEDC funds for their intended purposes, or were established or operated for fraudulent or improper purposes.”

FTI was paid $800,000 for last year’s audit, according to state records. That audit report was forwarded to the state’s Office of Inspector General, but no actions against any person or entity have been disclosed.

Rokita’s office did not reply to a request for comment this week about why it is pursuing the additional audit.

Braun spokesman Griffin Reid told the Capital Chronicle that the administration would work with the auditors.

“Since Governor Braun launched the investigation and audit of the IEDC/IEDF in April of 2025, both entities have been under a clear directive to cooperate with all state agencies seeking information, including the OIG and the OAG,” Reid said.