IEDC board votes to release results of forensic analysis — after legal review

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. will release the results of a forensic examination into the agency and its partners once a legal review for redactions is completed late next week. There are no criminal findings, per Gov. Mike Braun’s office.

Braun led the IEDC board of directors in a unanimous approval of the report’s release during a quarterly meeting Wednesday, at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis.

“As you’ll see once it’s released, the audit into past IEDC operations prior to this administration confirmed the need for increased transparency and accountability for Hoosier taxpayer money is spent,” Braun told attendees.

He promised an “audit” in April, after Indiana Legislative Insight reported allegations of self-dealing and more among IEDC and its partners. In May, Washington D.C.-based FTI Consulting began work. The contract is worth up to $800,000 and extended for a year.

FTI Consulting’s proposal identified five “Entities of Interest”: the IEDC; the agency’s nonprofit subsidiary; Elevate Ventures; Applied Research Institute; and IIP, LLC.

“My focus is on solutions, and we’re fixing these issues to get better results for Hoosiers,” Braun said Wednesday. “… We have (been) and will be implementing new internal policies and controls to ensure full transparency.”

Changes include, according to a news release:

• From left: Commerce Secretary David Adams and Gov. Mike Braun lead an Indiana Economic Development Corp. board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. The board voted to release the results of a forensic audit once a legal review is completed. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

  All votes must be taken by the IEDC’s full board of directors instead of in small committees.

• The agency’s nonprofit arm — the Indiana Economic Development Foundation — will “wind down.” The shadowy foundation was placed on a spending freeze in April. It was created to raise private funds in support of the IEDC’s mission, but often declined to provide information on its donors and expenses. Also in April, Braun forced the foundation to release six years worth of audited financial reports required by the State Budget Committee.
• Investment activity must “sta(y) in Indiana.”

IEDC’s board voted to allow Elevate Ventures to resume investment operations with the capital already loaned to the funds it manages on Indiana’s behalf. Those accounts include the Indiana Angel Network Fund and the Pre-Seed Fund.

The approval is “contingent upon terms and conditions satisfactory to the IEDC staff,” said Richard Waterfield, an IEDC board member and leader of various financial management companies.

Similar terms apply to a loan of up to $5 million, also approved Wednesday, to Elevate Ventures’ angel investment program. The State Budget Agency must also give approval, Waterfield said.

Just last month, however, the IEDC deemed Elevate Ventures “in breach of” lending language in all of its active loan agreements after defaulting on the angel investment program. The agency gave the troubled company 30 days to cure the breaches before it neared default on those agreements.

“Future iterations of contracts with partners such as Elevate Ventures and ARI will reflect these new policies and oversight controls to ensure full transparency and maximum value for taxpayer dollars,” the news release read. Braun’s office will also get an appointment to Elevate Ventures’ board.

“Indiana is a great place to do business, and with these additional accountability and transparency measures in place, it will be even a stronger place to live, work and raise a family,” Braun said.

Braun was scheduled to answer reporter questions after the meeting, but reversed course. Instead, he had to attend another meeting, according to his office.

Earlier in the day the Indianapolis Star posted a story detailing  how entities controlled by three men benefited handsomely from taxpayer-funded grants and no-bid professional services contracts: The IEDC under former Gov. Eric Holcomb doled out more than $180 million over less than six years in awards to entities controlled, either in whole or in part, by at least one — and sometimes all — of the three men.

One of those entities was Applied Research Institute, which is included in the audit findings.

Commerce Secretary David Adams additionally fleshed out a new vision for the IEDC.

“Our mission remains unchanged … but our approach is new,” he said. “(It’s going) from state-led to region-led, from fragmented with these various agencies to a unified commerce vertical, and moving from being transactional to transformational.”

Adams emphasized the importance of nurturing the state’s existing workforce — highlighting the administration’s modified employer reimbursement program — to boost productivity and wages. Another focus was homegrown entrepreneurship, in addition to the traditional wooing of big firms.

Under Braun’s administration, the average cost per incentivized job has decreased from $55,000 per job to $16,000 per job, according to the news release.

Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.