The CEO of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority was apparently arrested earlier this month on suspicion of domestic battery, and though he won't face charges, he’s taking a leave of absence anyway.
The long-delayed and beleaguered California High-Speed rail project was rolling into 2026 in a highly hobbled state after the Trump administration had just yanked a previously promised $4 billion in federal funding for the elusive SF-to-LA high-speed train system. But Governor Gavin Newsom has been putting his best face forward on the project, having just completed one of those "California moving ahead with high-speed rail” press events in Kern County just two weeks ago to the day today.
The rest of that day would not go well for the high-speed rail project. On Monday, the Chronicle reported that California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery just hours after that press event with Newsom. The arrest occurred at Choudri’s Folsom, California home, and apparently involved Choudri’s fiancé Lyudmyla Starostyuk and some unnamed minor.
But the situation got a whole lot murkier on Tuesday, when Sacramento’s KCRA reported that Choudri will not face any charges over the incident, and on top of that, the fiancé Starostyuk was apparently also arrested for suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence and misdemeanor child endangerment. The Folsom Police Department said in a statement that the victim would not be named because that person was a "confidential victim, a juvenile."
It’s unclear whether those charges still stand, and whether the minor might be Choudri or the fiancé’s daughter.
Either way, KCRA separately reported later on Tuesday that Choudri is taking a leave of absence from the high-speed rail project while all of this gets sorted out.
“While CEO Choudri has informed the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board that he is not aware of any evidence of wrongdoing, he has voluntarily agreed to take a temporary leave to allow the Board and our parent agency, the California State Transportation Agency, to fully review and assess the situation," California High-Speed Rail Authority Peter Whippy said in a statement to that station. "We are taking this matter seriously, consistent with our longstanding commitment to public responsibility, transparency, and accountability."
But high-speed rail is a political matter no matter how you slice it, and California Republicans (who hate this project!) are looking to make hay of whatever comes of this.
"This is far from over," Republican state Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo of Tulare told KCRA. "He is a public figure and a highly paid public figure... Especially considering that he does work around women potentially or other people, if there is an issue as far as domestic violence goes, this is a liability issue that the governor should want to know, that we as legislators should want to know when he represents the state of California on such a high-profile project."
