CEO of California high-speed rail boondoggle gets nabbed for domestic violence
Ian Choudri, the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, was arrested at his Folsom home earlier this month on suspicion of domestic battery, officials said Monday.
Authorities took Choudri, 57, and his fiancée Lyudmyla Starostyuk, 46, into custody just after midnight Feb. 4 on suspicion of battery against a spouse, according to the L.A. Times. The arrest happened just hours after an appearance beside Gavin Newsom at a rail event in Kern County, where the pair announced the completion of a 150-acre facility that will serve as a hub for construction on the rail project.
Choudri was arrested after an alleged fight between Starostyuk and Choudri’s 17-year-old daughter where officers claim Starostyuk “pulled her hair and pushed her” before locking her out of the house, according to police recordings reviewed by the Sacramento Bee.
Police were called to the home by a third party and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office did not file charges in the case.
“The High-Speed Rail Authority is aware of the matter and is reviewing it,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to the Bee Monday night.
Choudri, one of the highest-paid state employees in California earning $563,000 last year, was approved as CEO of the agency in August 2024. He has over 30 years of experience in the transportation sector and previously served as the senior vice president of HNTB Corp., an infrastructure design firm.
The heavily scrutinized high-speed rail project has been ongoing since 2008 when voters approved the ballot measure green lighting the project. After 18 years of work, only 80 miles of guideway and 58 structures have been fully completed. The rail is designed to stretch nearly 500 miles and reduce travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles — a distance of almost 400 miles — to two hours and 40 minutes.
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