Former CEO of Valley Metro, Stephen Banta, has entered into a plea agreement with a stipulation to probation. Banta pleaded guilty to one count of Fraudulent Schemes and Practices, a class five felony as a result of an investigation by the Office of the Auditor General.
The Office of the Auditor General investigated and identified that Banta misused his authority at Valley Metro to pay $32,491 in expenses for personal travel and dining, of which $3,285.69 related to the use of public monies.
Auditor General findings:
Mr. Banta caused VMR to pay $22,058 for expenses associated with 48 of his and his wife’s trips to
Portland—
From April 2010 through July 2012, Banta used Valley Metro (VMR) credit cards or filed expense reports causing Valley Metro to pay $16,392 in flight and ground transportation costs associated with his wife’s 32 trips to Portland and $5,666 for his flights when he joined her on 16 trips. Although Banta had already moved to Phoenix, he claimed these travel expenses were related to his relocation from Portland to Phoenix and directed subordinate employees to pay them with Valley Metro monies. This travel occurred over eight weekends, including Banta’s birthday, their son’s birthday, their son’s university commencement ceremony, and holidays such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, as well as one 11-day stay over Christmas and New Year’s Day for which Banta used 32 hours of his Valley Metro paid-time-off benefit.
Mr. Banta caused VMR and RPTA to pay $10,433 of his and his wife’s personal meal and alcohol
expenses —
Banta used his VMR credit card or filed false expense reports causing VMR and Regional Public Transportation Authority (RPTA) to pay for his and his wife’s personal meal and alcohol expenses totaling $10,433 from July 2010 through October 2015. Banta directed his subordinates to pay these expenses even though he did not provide itemized receipts as Valley Metro policy requires. Accordingly, it was not always clear how much of a meal expense was for alcohol, which policy specifically prohibits. Of the 17 itemized receipts Auditor General staff were able to obtain from vendors, all included alcohol.
Mr. Banta claimed specific transit-related officials were present for 31 meals; however, these officials stated they were not present —
In fact, two reported that Mr. Banta asked them to lie to reporters about their attendance, another two stated they had not dined with Mr. Banta in several years, and one stated he had never met Mr. Banta. As an example, Mr. Banta directed his subordinates to pay a $240 Las Vegas restaurant expense claiming two officials dined with him. However, both officials denied they were present, and the itemized receipt showed only one diner with $180 in alcohol charges.
Mr. Banta claimed ten meals were business related; however, transit-related officials stated they were not business-related and/or Ms. Banta attended —
Although some officials stated they were present, they considered the meals to be social events and not business-related. Additionally, Valley Metro policy specifically prohibited payment for spouse and other family member expenses, yet of these ten meals, Mr. Banta caused Valley Metro to unknowingly pay for his wife’s expenses at eight of them because he did not list her as present even though transit-related officials stated she attended. As an example, Mr. Banta directed his subordinates to pay a $745 Washington, DC, restaurant expense and identified two officials as attendees but did not list his wife. One of these officials stated they all had cocktails and at least one bottle of wine, and he did not consider this a business dinner.
Banta reimbursed Valley Metro for only one of these 41 meals. In particular, after reviewing Valley Metro travel records produced pursuant to a newspaper’s October 29, 2015, request, Mr. Banta wrote a $263 personal check payable to Valley Metro on November 17, 2015. This reimbursement was for a September 26, 2015, $263 Portland restaurant expense that included his wife and son, and not the two transit-related officials he originally claimed attended.
The terms and conditions of Banta’s probation will be left to the court.
The State is not seeking restitution because Valley Metro already recouped the costs via a previous agreement with Banta.