This is not the first time that the FPPC has started an investigation against an authority board member. Patterson previously lodged a complaint against Roy Hill, former deputy chief operating officer of the rail authority, for signing off on $51 million of change orders for Jacobs Engineering, according to California Political Review. Hill allegedly owns up to $100,000 in Jacobs stock.
The bullet train project, which California Gov. Gavin Newsom scaled back significantly earlier this year, has never wandered too far from controversy.