Last week Sacramento State re-posted the summary report of a forensic examination into Capital Public Radio’s finances, after it was removed for “corrections and clarifications" earlier this month. Key updates to the document include new dollar figures concerning more than $700,000 in mysterious spending, and information about potential conflicts of interests among certain former board members.
The forensic examination had been unavailable to read on the university’s website for 11 days.
The report was triggered by an earlier audit, commissioned by the California State University Chancellor’s Office last September, which found significant mismanagement at CapRadio, an auxiliary of Sac State. Following the audit’s findings, the university contracted CliftonLarsonAllen, an independent accounting firm, to conduct the forensic examination and write the summary of its findings that would be released to the public.
That months-delayed 36-page summary — which was heavily redacted — was published Aug. 5 on Sac State’s website. But by Aug. 8, it had been removed, with a note from CliftonLarsonAllen citing the need to make “corrections and clarifications.”
The summary was reposted as of 10:30 p.m. Aug. 19.
The scope of the revised summary spanning from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2023, remained unchanged.
The names of board members, witnesses and businesses are redacted in both summaries. CapRadio’s independent reporting team requested unredacted versions of the summary and full report; Sac State denied that request earlier this month, citing the need to preserve “the integrity of ongoing law enforcement investigation and privacy interests.”
Here’s what to know about the updated summary.
Corrections of total ‘unsupported’ payments
Several changes have been made to the examination summary, including the totals of “unsupported payments,” or payments not backed up by receipts or expense reports, that were paid out to CapRadio employees.
More than half of those mysterious payments — some $460,000 — were made to one CapRadio executive, identified in the report only as Subject #1. On Aug. 15, CapRadio’s independent reporting team identified Subject #1 as former General Manager Jun Reina after a reporter reviewed an unredacted physical copy of the original summary.
In the original summary, the grand total of those unsupported payments was $774,703.05. In the updated summary, that total is $768,325.34, a decrease of about $6,400. The discrepancy appears to be due to a math error.
New summary also clarifies periods of board member service
Other changes to the summary include clarification around when board members served, and an update on which businesses could have benefited from possible conflicts of interest.
“This report has been clarified to reflect that one former [Capital Public Radio] Board member, Board Member #5, was not a member of the CPR Board of directors at the time of the transaction between CPR and the company they founded, Business #8,” accountants for CliftonLarsenAllen noted. “Thus, Business #8 is excluded from CLA’s finding of evidence of a possible conflict of interest.”
A short time after the original summary was posted, The Sacramento Bee identified five board members whose names were redacted. The Bee’s list named Steve Weiss as Board Member #5; Weiss is founder and president of The Weiss Group, a consulting firm. CapRadio has independently identified that Board Member #5 is Weiss.
After he was named in The Bee story, Weiss contacted the newspaper to say the forensic examination contained errors.
“At no time as a member of the Board of Directors did I or The Weiss Group provide any professional services for compensation,” Weiss wrote in a statement to The Sacramento Bee in early August. “My term on the board concluded in September 2018. I facilitated one board retreat in September 2019, well after my departure date from the board.”
In an interview with CapRadio late last week, Weiss said he was “disappointed and surprised” to see his business named in the report, and that he hadn’t been contacted by CliftonLarsonAllen before the report was published.
The new version of the report includes a line that acknowledges Weiss — identified as Board Member #5 — was not on the board of directors at the time payment was made to The Weiss Group to plan and facilitate a board retreat in 2019; rather, the report says that Weiss was an active member of a board committee, which plays an advisory role to the board.
Weiss told CapRadio that the original report mischaracterized his involvement with the board.
“I didn’t have any voting rights, and they acknowledge that in the revised [report],” he said.
Other board members’ time clarified
The updated report also makes clarifications about when another board member served, as well as possible conflicts of interests in connection to one of the downtown properties CapRadio planned to relocate to.
Both summaries note that a board member — identified only as Board Member #1 — has a spousal relationship with a partial owner of the building at 730 I Street — the same property that was to become CapRadio’s new downtown headquarters.
The Sacramento Bee identified Katherine Bardis-Miry as one of the board members mentioned in the report.
CapRadio’s independent reporting reviewed the downtown headquarters lease, which it received via public records request. The March 2021 agreement is signed by both former GM Jun Reina and Bay Miry, who is Bardis-Miry’s husband and a prominent Sacramento-area developer.
The original summary of the forensic examination stated that discussions about the downtown relocation project began when Board Member #1 — Bardis-Miry — joined the board; the updated summary states that Board Member #1 was appointed in July 2019, three months before conversations about the downtown move began.
“It appears the spouse of a board member at the time held an ownership interest in the property, which, at a minimum, demonstrates at least the appearance of a potential conflict of interest,” accountants wrote in both summaries.
Both versions of the report mention that board meeting minutes do not make it clear if Bardis-Miry recused herself from all discussions about the downtown move, although the authors confirmed she recused herself from at least one discussion about the lease in October 2019, the first meeting she attended as a sworn-in board member.
Bardis-Miry previously told The Sacramento Bee that she recused herself from discussions about the lease. “The discussions to go into the building started well before my appointment to the board and I made sure to recuse myself from any votes or detailed discussions regarding the property,” Bardis-Miry wrote in a statement to The Bee in Oct. 2023. “My involvement with the board and organization had no bearing on the building lease and associated decisions.”
However, accountants wrote that “the minutes [of the Oct. 19 meeting] do not describe what, if anything, was communicated to the Board as to the details of Board Member #1’s [Bardis-Miry’s] possible relationship or connection to Individual #1 [Bay Miry].”
CapRadio reporters reached out to Bardis-Miry for a statement when the report was first released. She agreed to an interview, but then canceled; she has not responded to our additional requests for comment.
CapRadio’s move to 730 I Street has since been canceled. A marketing page on the station’s website states that the CapRadio “will continue functioning as a Sacramento State auxiliary from our current headquarters on campus.” However, the site notes that CapRadio’s plan to develop a second property, an event space located at 1010 8th Street, is moving forward.
‘No charges filed’ and a sheriff’s investigation
In both versions of the summary, the authors make clear CliftonLarsonAllen’s findings do not express “opinions regarding the guilt or innocence of any person or party,” including whether there has been fraud or criminal activity.
CLA also noted its forensic analysis and accounting services were retained to help determine if there was a personal benefit to business agreements executed by CapRadio.
Earlier this month, Sac State President Luke Wood said some portions of the report had been “redacted to avoid jeopardizing a related investigation by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.”
A spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed via email it was investigating Reina, CapRadio’s former general manager, but would not give further details about the basis of the investigation.
Bird & Van Dyke, Inc., the law firm representing Reina, did not respond to several attempts for comment for this article. Earlier this month, the firm emailed a statement suggesting all of CapRadio’s management “needs to be scrutinized” and that “the issues are under investigation and NO charges have been filed.”
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by CapRadio’s Digital Editor Claire Morgan, Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez and Producer Sarit Laschinsky. It was edited by Politics Editor Chris Nichols with support from the California Newsroom.
CapRadio Political Reporters Laura Fitzgerald and Megan Myscofski and Producer Jen Picard contributed reporting. You can follow our ongoing coverage here.
Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted or broadcast.
Editor’s note: CapRadio is licensed to Sacramento State, which is also an underwriter.
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