California’s insurance chief allegedly billed taxpayers for luxury trips, business class, and security. Here’s what’s been discovered.
Background: How A Travel Story Turned Political
A viral post alleges that California’s Insurance Commissioner has been globe-trotting on the public dime. The underlying reporting comes from a Los Angeles TV station. ABC7’s months-long investigation into Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s travel since 2019 triggered an ethics review by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
What Investigators Found
The news station requested records on 48 trips and says the Department of Insurance could clearly identify a direct business purpose for only seven, with three of those described vaguely. Many records are still missing. The station’s reporting also notes the FPPC is assessing a complaint tied to those findings.
“After nine months of questioning, however, the California Department of Insurance (CDI) was unable to specify those reasons for a series of trips — including a five-star hotel stay in New York City for PrideFest that cost taxpayers more than $11,600. The four-day trip listed no insurance-related meetings on his calendar, but a VIP rooftop event with “DJ Kitty Glitter” made the cut.
Private security was hired to escort him to various events on this trip, costing taxpayers more than $9,400. CDI says it defers to California Highway Patrol for any private security or transport travel expenses, adding the CHP — not the commissioner — makes those decisions, based on things like threat assessments.
“A government job is government service. It’s not supposed to be wealthy,” said Nolan Higdon, a political analyst and lecturer at UC Santa Cruz. “You’re not supposed to be in nice buildings in New York. And having high-priced security.” – ABC7
The Receipts: Upgrades, Five-Star Resorts, Safari
The paper trail shows taxpayer-covered expenses for at least a dozen international trips. Line items include upgraded flights to business and first class, luxury hotel stays, chauffeurs and limousine service, and security details that pushed total costs far higher than earlier disclosures.
California Insurance Commissioner taking lavish trips around the world funded by American taxpayers
“Upgrading his flights to business and first class, expensing the five-star resort stays, chauffeurs, limo service, even a safari”
– More than 48 trips across the globe
– Just… pic.twitter.com/pF8mrCp8GC— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) October 2, 2025
How The Numbers Compare
Running a comparative analysis of Lara’s travel and security spending with other California officials who work on insurance policy, it’s not close to what others have paid in the post prior. The gap was stark. For context, the outlet reports one insurance committee chair averaged just under $19,000 per year for taxpayer-funded trips, while a single Commissioner Lara trip incurred a security tab alone of more than $33,000.
What Lara’s Office Says
The Commissioner’s team argues the job represents all Californians and the world’s fourth-largest insurance market, which can require international travel to engage with reinsurers and global stakeholders. His office contends that if you scaled travel budgets by constituency, comparable spend would look very different. However, that may not coincide with what others in his position and in his state have spent before him in a like-for-like comparison.
Other public figures such as Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and former New York Mayor, Bill de Blasio have all been photographed flying coach.
Where Things Stand Now
The FPPC is reviewing a complaint that stems from the ABC7 findings. Additional outlets have amplified the core allegations and timeline while pointing back to the same source documents. Until the ethics review lands, the most concrete items remain the receipts on record and the department’s incomplete responses to document requests to the aforementioned outlets.
Why Travelers Care
This is a travel story with a taxpayer twist. The upgrades and resort choices would turn heads on any expense report. When the traveler is a public official, accountability questions follow quickly, especially while California’s insurance market faces real pressure and consumers are watching premiums and coverage shrink. Wildfires in recent years have caused significant damage to the state and property owners are bearing the cost in higher premiums. Some might call these trips superfluous and suggest they are not core to his professional duties, a safari is a tough travel experience to defend on a taxpayer expense report.
Conclusion
Wall Street Apes surfaced the clip, but the substance sits in ABC7’s reporting. Records show a pattern of costly travel with spotty documentation, and that has now triggered an ethics review. Lara’s office frames the trips as part of the job in a massive insurance market and says engagement abroad can serve Californians. The tension between those two positions will be settled by documents and oversight. For now, the receipts are plain, the justifications are thin in places, and the FPPC has work to do. We all like first class upgrades, especially when someone else is picking up the tab, but on the taxpayer’s dime – if true – it seems particularly egregious.
What do you think?
Maybe someone needs to look into if he is even a citizen with a name like that and being in CA. Before calling me “whatever” the recent Des Moines discovery should have us all concerned on how much detail is going into checking I-9 paperwork at time of hiring.
@Dave … “the recent Des Moines discovery should have us all concerned” . Exactly so .
Perhaps the I-9 paperwork checker was a graduate of his school ? Ya think ?
Also , the truck driver arrested in Oklahoma with a “No Name Given” actual driver’s license from a state .
It’s really difficult to believe that you are an actual person who is a citizen of this country. I think you need to prove it. You cannot possibly be an American,
One more ticket is needed for him. A ticket to prison.
This sums up a fundamental problem for me. I don’t have any issue with public officials traveling and I don’t even begrudge them a modicum of comfort. Hell, let them fly up front, stay in good hotels, and eat well. But jerks like this, taking advantage of lax oversight and just being egregiously wasteful, that ruin any opportunity for a conversation not dominated by talk of bad actors like this.
TL;dr – This is why we can’t have nice things.
It’s called “milking the system”, but it’s ok, because he is part of the ruling party in California. But I really think our governor should appoint Lara to a management position with the high speed rail authority – lifetime income, low expectations for a never ending project that after so many years has yet to lay any track.
As above–it is all ok because he is part of the ruling party in CA. The suckers in CA that pay taxes and buy insurance owe him this. By golly, you don’t expect him to miss the New York pride debauchery do you? and in 5-star style? I think nothing is too good for our ruling class (unless your a dumb repub.)