MATA credit cards show thousands spent on domestic, international travel
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG Investigators uncovered credit card statements from the Memphis Area Transit Authority's executives revealing hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on hotels and travel.
MATA first denied our request to see the records, but with help from the Reporter's Committee for the Freedom of the Press, they turned them over, because the Tennessee Records Act states these receipts should not be secret.
The statements detail how your taxpayer money was spent every month since 2017 using the top executives' American Express credit cards. A good chunk of the items charged were travel-related.
MATA's leadership including the chief executive officer and chief administrative officer, and those in charge of security, compliance, trolleys and finances went on some of these trips.
Since 2017, multiple flights were booked to these places you see on the map like Atlanta, D.C., Portland, the San Francisco area, Phoenix, Seattle, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Orlando and Vegas.
MATA spent millions on new office, furniture, Grizzlies suite, more
We even found international trips booked using the company card. The former CEO Gary Rosenfeld charged a flight from Turkey to Greece in November 2019, and another trip in June 2023 to Sydney, Australia. The more than $11,000 dollar plane ticket paid for using MATA's credit card points.
The former CFO also booked a trip to India in March 2021. That flight cost just under $4,000.
We don't know the reason for the international or domestic trips, or if even more trips were booked using other credit cards. Seven months ago, we requested travel expense forms that should give those details. MATA tells us they're still working to gather those records.
Between 2017 and 2024, the credit card statements show more than $276,000 was spent on plane and train tickets, seat upgrades, baggage and other collection fees.
Then, tack on another almost $439,000 dollars in hotels for the trips.
At a council committee meeting earlier this month, MATA's new Interim C.E.O. John Lewis told the council they've made changes to the travel policy.
'We've also instituted a travel ban on non-safety certification related travel,' Lewis said.
Lewis works for the outside firm TransPro. The mayor brought them in last August to look at MATA's operations after MATA's previous administration suddenly announced a $60 million dollar deficit.
MATA's $60 million deficit: how did we get here?
'Too much of every dollar is spent towards unnecessary administrative functions,' Lewis told reporters.
In November 2021, statements show 10 plane tickets to Orlando, Florida were booked for some of MATA's top administrators and board members. There was a transportation conference taking place there that same weekend. The total cost was around $2,200 plus around another $15,000 in hotel rooms.
Ten more plane tickets were charged in March 2022. This time it was to Dallas, totaling $3,024 in flights and additional charges. Plus, there was another $13,087 in charges at the Omni Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas.
Large groups seem to have also taken other trips to Portland, Nashville and Las Vegas. Sometimes, those trips came with additional charges, like more than $1,700 spent at a bowling alley in Franklin, Tennessee and almost $1,000 at a fancy steak house in Vegas.
Meanwhile, Memphis buses were running late or not running at all. MATA's new leadership stressed priorities must change.
'Maximize the amount of every dollar that gets put into operations rather than administration. That's been a challenge for this agency up until now,' Lewis said.
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Coming up tonight on News Channel 3 Wednesday at 10 p.m., we show you other interesting charges on MATA's company cards. A tobacco shop, a jewelry store and dinners. We'll tell you what else we found.
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