O.C. prosecutors seek evidence in Great Park audit

County prosecutors have requested financial documents and any evidence of criminal wrongdoing turned up in an ongoing forensic audit of the $200-million effort to turn a retired military base into an enormous municipal park in Irvine.

The Orange County district attorney’s office cited “a wide range of allegations of misuse of public funds” in its request for the information.

In a letter to audit attorney Anthony Taylor of Aleshire and Wynder, Senior Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski requested “copies of interviews, depositions and any supporting documentation” from the ongoing forensic audit.

“Our intent in reaching out to you ... is in no way, shape or form intended to interfere with your process,” Lubinski wrote.

The Irvine City Council authorized the use of subpoenas by auditors to dig further into how more than $200 million was spent on a park that remains largely undeveloped.

The subpoenas weren’t issued as part of a prosecutorial effort but to make it easier for auditors to gather documents and depose those who were involved in the project.

Irvine Councilwoman Christina Shea, who is part of a new council majority that pushed hard for the probe, said she’s pleased the district attorney’s office has decided to add the extra firepower.

“They’ve made it clear they want to partner with us,” she said Friday. “That’s a very positive move in regard to all the information we’ve found so far.”

Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the district attorney’s office, said she couldn’t comment on the investigation beyond what was in the letter.

As the audit has progressed, testimony from prominent figures involved in the park’s planning has painted a picture of a project beset by inefficiency, waste and cronyism.

Some officials alleged that Councilman Larry Agran — who chaired the Great Park Corp. — commandeered the design process and was inappropriately influenced by powerful consultants whose employees were allowed to essentially ignore city oversight.

In particular, officials alleged that Yehudi Gaffen, owner of the consulting firm Gafcon, and Arnold Forde of political consulting firm Forde & Mollrich seemed to enjoy close friendships with Agran.

Agran did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Agran and other park boosters have repeatedly dismissed the allegations, saying they are nothing more than political backbiting. Officials with Gafcon, which helped run the Great Park Design Studio, and Forde & Mollrich have strongly denied that they held any undue sway over the park’s planning. Their firms, they’ve said, did the work the city hired them to do.

Most recently, the City Council asked a judge to compel consultants at Forde & Mollrich — whose $100,000-per-month fixed-fee contract for public relations work on the park has been widely criticized — to turn over more detailed information about the firm’s overhead and payroll.

Several days later, the firm delivered dozens of boxes of paper documents to the city, which officials say will take hours to comb through to determine whether they contain the information auditors requested.

And this week, Forde’s partner, Stu Mollrich, suggested at a City Council meeting that auditor attorneys from Aleshire and Wynder were behaving unethically.

Shea said she expects that now that the district attorney’s office is involved, a final audit report may take longer to be released. Previously, the city said the report was expected to be completed in August.

Times Community News correspondent Matt Morrison contributed to this report.