Airport Board Reimbursed Councilman $184,997 for 72 Trips

A member of the Ontario City Council charged an airport authority $184,997 for 72 trips taken between March 2021 and June 2026. The records were released under the California Public Records Act. The councilman served on the board of the Ontario International Airport Authority until a recent removal from the position.

That sum is part of a larger picture of travel across multiple agencies. The councilman reported 132 trips over the five-year period across five boards where he held seats, averaging about 26 trips a year. The total cost for all five agencies was $283,630. Excluding the airport authority, the other four boards paid a combined $98,632 for his travel.

The airport authority's share was vastly larger than that of his peers on the board. The reimbursement for his trips was 64 times the amount the other four members received together during the same timeframe. The board president was paid $2,865 for travel, while the other three members did not request any reimbursement.

Trips paid for by the airport authority included travel to Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, the Bahamas, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Madrid, along with several visits to Hawaii. One journey to Maui for a 17-day conference in January 2023 cost $8,939.40. That amount included $7,000 for a rental of a three-bedroom house in Lahaina. His wife was present on several trips, including one to Rio de Janeiro in April 2026 that cost $14,325. A Hong Kong trip in September 2025 was billed at $12,701, with airfare accounting for $7,437.

The councilman defended the expenditures in an email. He wrote that his travel was necessary for him to be effective in his position and stated that none of the trips were junkets. He said the trips provided access to airline executives, concession operators, and federal officials who influence the airport's growth. The board president said the spending met authority rules at the time. He added that other commissioners did not know about the trips because the councilman never reported back to the full board, so they were unaware of the frequency or total cost. The board president also noted that the money was from airport revenue, not tax dollars. Over the past decade, the councilman also earned about a quarter of a million dollars in meeting stipends from the authority.

The FBI searched the councilman's Ontario home on July 28. Agents also searched the homes or offices of other individuals and sent subpoenas to Ontario International Airport and Ontario City Hall. The subject of the investigation is not publicly known, and no charges have been announced as of Thursday, Oct. 22. The City Council removed the councilman from his committee appointments, including the airport board. He has dropped a planned mayoral run but is seeking another term on the council.

On Sept. 24, the airport board approved changes that cap monthly stipends at $1,000 and limit members to one domestic conference a year and one international conference every other year, each requiring advance approval. The payment of spouses' travel is no longer allowed. On Oct. 19, the board voted to create an internal auditing program that includes a full-time auditor. The councilman said the board was scapegoating him and that travel was a budget line item that members could have questioned.