A Republican state legislator from the Central Valley is calling for the CEO of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority to be fired because of his recent arrest and his fiancée’s employment with a company contracted by the rail authority.
Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and rail authority Board Chair Tom Richards on Wednesday calling CEO Ian Choudri’s continued leadership “untenable” and an “insult” to taxpayers.
“I demand the immediate termination of Ian Choudri,” Macedo wrote. “Given his arrest and the allegations against him, Mr. Choudri’s continued tenure would irreparably damage the public’s trust in their government.”
The rail authority declined to comment for this story.
Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, listens at the state Capitol during the Assembly’s first meeting of the new legislative session on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
Choudri and his fiancée, Lyudmyla Starostyuk, were both arrested outside their Folsom home earlier this month after someone called police, accusing Starostyuk of pulling Choudri’s 17-year-old daughter’s hair and locking her out of the house, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Choudri was quickly released, and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office told The Sacramento Bee it did not find sufficient evidence to charge him with a crime. His attorney said authorities considered the legal matter to be finished. Choudri has since gone on voluntary leave from the rail authority while the California State Transportation Agency investigates the incident.
The Sacramento Bee also reported Starostyuk recently began working as an advisory manager for KPMG, a company with a $24 million contract from the rail authority for financial advisory services. The rail authority has said the company confirmed Starostyuk has performed no work under the contract and also will not do so in the future.
Macedo’s letter demanding Choudri’s termination goes on to criticize the high-speed rail project’s renewed state financing commitment — $1 billion per year through 2045 that she says should instead be spent on water infrastructure and wildfire prevention. Macedo and other Central Valley Republicans have often criticized high-speed rail.
Rail authority Chief of Staff Mark Tollefson is temporarily in charge of the rail authority’s day-to-day operations, according to The Sacramento Bee. It’s not yet clear when Choudri will return to work.
Choudri, one of the state’s highest-paid employees, joined the rail authority in 2024. During his tenure, the rail authority has put forth new ideas intended to quicken the pace of the historically slow-moving project, including specific partnerships with private investors and changes to a law requiring a focus on the Central Valley.
The Sacramento Bee reported he is using his available paid time off balance during his temporary leave. It’s not yet clear when he will return to work.
California High Speed Rail CEO Ian Choudri is interviewed by the California McClatchy Editorial Board Wednesday, July 30, 2025 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 1:24 PM.
Related Stories from Fresno Bee
The Fresno Bee
Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea’s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert. Erik’s work is supported through the California Local News Fellowship program.