INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The U.S. Department of Treasury plans to recover nearly $500,000 from Indiana after a federal audit found the “intentional misuse'' of economic development money by the state.
The Indianapolis Star reports an audit by the federal Office of the Inspector General found a contractor the Indiana development agency hired to invest taxpayer money in promising startup companies should not have awarded $499,986 to a startup business managed by the contractor's chairman.
In the report, the Office of the Inspector General noted that Indiana and federal officials disagreed about whether the funding was intentionally misused.
The audit reviewed a decision by Elevate Ventures, hired by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., to direct the money to a pair of companies connected to Elevate chairman Howard Bates and his son.
