LA County Investigates Nonprofit Leaders' Lease Deals
LA County officials investigating lease overpayments to Tarzana Treatment Center executives and board members have told the Los Angeles Times they may expand their search and ask the nonprofit to repay taxpayers.
The Center for Public Accountability has asked Attorney General Jerry Brown's office to hold Tarzana's top leaders, not the organization, responsible for any overpayments.
An initial report by the LA County Auditor-Controller found top Tarzana leaders and others with close ties to the center earned $1.5 million profit last year in rents from the organization. The Los Angeles Times said the County has not yet determined how much of that profit should be returned because it came from County funds. Click here to read the Times' story on Tarzana.
"The supervisors expect they will pay it back," said Fred Leaf, a health policy advisor to Supervisor Mike Antonovich. He also said the County may investigate lease payments for past years.
Expanding the County's review to cover previous years was one of the Center for Public Accountability's principal recommendations in a letter and report sent to Board of Supervisors members Wednesday.
CPA has found that two Tarzana Treatment Center executives, along with other board members, rent properties to the nonprofit at up to triple the market rates. The treatment center could have saved an estimated $14 million if it had purchased those properties rather than leased them from its board members.
Read more:
Tarzana nonprofit paid too much rent, audit finds, Los Angeles Times (9/11/09)
Union says Tarzana clinic squandered millions, Daily News (9/11/09)
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