Gov. Mike Braun orders independent audit of IEDC's accounting practices. Here's why
Gov. Mike Braun has ordered an independent forensic audit of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., a quasi-governmental agency that he had pledged on the campaign trail to scrutinize.
The existence of an independent audit was first reported Tuesday by Hannah News Service, which also reported that the probe stems from concerns with the practices of a particular contractor of the IEDC, Elevate Ventures.
Hannah News also reported that this was the subtext for an executive order Braun signed on April 8 ordering financial disclosures from the IEDC's private fundraising arm.
'Today I am reiterating my commitment to transparency in government," Braun said in a statement shared with IndyStar. "Hoosier taxpayers deserve clear accountability for how their dollars are spent. We are finalizing arrangements for an independent forensic audit of all Indiana Economic Development Corporation accounting and we will take any necessary action to protect taxpayers going forward.'
Elevate Ventures started as a grant-writing IEDC spinoff, created by former Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2011. It has grown into a venture capital firm that invests in startups, including using state dollars to invest in Indiana startups. Toward the end of Gov. Eric Holcomb's term, in May 2024, the state launched a new "Elevate Ventures Growth Fund" to focus on investing in "cross sector innovation" companies in Indiana. Elevate Ventures also generally does investment and portfolio management for the IEDC.
Some of the concerns from top IEDC officials as reported by Hannah News include their alleged struggles to get financial and investment data from Elevate Ventures, and an ownership structure at Elevate that gave certain individuals power over investment of state funds.
A message seeking comment from Elevate Ventures was not returned. The IEDC deferred to the governor's office.
The IEDC has for years been the subject of scrutiny over how it conducts business, most notably in the public eye over its quietly buying up land in Boone County for the LEAP District, a large industrial park that then appeared to need a pipeline to ship in water from Tippecanoe County. Lawmakers on the state budget committee often grill the IEDC on how it spends state dollars, which the agency can often obscure behind the sensitivity of competitive economic development deals.
This became a significant campaign issue during the Republican gubernatorial primary race in 2024, where Braun competed against a former IEDC head, Brad Chambers.
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