BREAKING: Lawsuit Says LSU Hiding $77M Spending Behind Private LLC

The right to direct participation outlined in the Louisiana Constitution is built on a simple principle: taxpayers have the right to know how public bodies and officials are conducting business. That principle becomes meaningless if the government can hand public money to a private entity and allow that entity to shield the records from public view. A recently filed lawsuit aims to determine whether our government can route taxpayer dollars through private entities to shield records from public view.

University Lakes, LLC

On July 14, 2026, Our Public Parks, a nonprofit organization domiciled in East Baton Rouge Parish, filed a petition for Writ of Mandamus for Enforcement of Public Records Request against University Lakes, LLC. According to the petition, more than $77 million in taxpayer funds have been directed through University Lakes, LLC, an entity created by an affiliate of the LSU Foundation to oversee the renovation of the LSU Lakes. The petition alleges that the LLC serves as the conduit through which public funds are received and project contracts are administered.

The dispute did not begin with accusations of fraud or misuse of funds. It began with a straightforward public records request.

On July 7, 2026, Attorney William Most, on behalf of Our Public Parks, requested copies of construction contracts, performance bonds, procurement policies, and financial records showing public contributions to the project. Instead of producing those records, University Lakes, LLC responded that it was not subject to Louisiana’s Public Records Law because it was not a public or quasi-public entity.

Ultimately, it did provide a ledger reflecting deposits of public funds but declined to produce the remaining categories of records. The ledger itself demonstrates the scale of taxpayer involvement. It reflects repeated deposits from the State of Louisiana, the City of Baton Rouge, BREC, LSU, and related entities over several years, including numerous multimillion-dollar transfers.

Now You See Me, Now You Can’t

That raises a much larger question. If the government can spend public money through a private entity, yet the records documenting contracts, procurement decisions, performance bonds, and other contractor protections become unavailable simply because of the entity’s legal form, then transparency becomes optional.

In correspondence attached to the lawsuit, counsel for the LLC maintained that the entity is not subject to the Public Records Law and ultimately advised the requester, “Sue if you must,” while noting that certain project information is available on the project’s website.

The petition argues that Louisiana law does not permit that result. Relying on prior Louisiana Supreme Court decisions, the lawsuit contends that private entities performing governmental functions with public funds may be subject to the Public Records Law. The petition asks the court to order production of the requested records.

Beyond the Legal Jargon

We are at a point in this state where people are beginning to see beyond the shell games our government is playing. ‘The law allows us to do it’ is a defense. It is not a justification for ditching transparent use of public funds. The people have a right to know that their tax dollars are being collected uniformly, allocated publicly, and spent for their benefit.

The people of Louisiana are tired of back-door deals and the endless shenanigans we witness outside the “open” budget hearing. They are tired of their hard-earned money being drained from their checking accounts to support an elected official’s pet project. Our last legislative session witnessed numerous legislative battles over property rights, but taxpayer dollars are property, too. And the fact that these dollars may have been ‘legally allocated’ to a third party is of no interest. IT IS STILL OUR MONEY!

The Litigation

Ultimately, the court will decide who is correct under Louisiana law. But regardless of the outcome, the policy question should concern every taxpayer. Public money should never lose its public character simply because it passes through an LLC, nonprofit, foundation, or other private intermediary.

In fact, our constitution even speaks to that point. Article 7, Section 12 of our constitution reads:

“Reports and records of the collection, expenditure, investment, and use of state money and those relating to state obligations shall be matters of public record, except returns of taxpayers and matters pertaining to those returns.”

Shielding the end beneficiary through the use of an intermediary third party, regardless of how they are defined under the law, is absurd and is counterintuitive to the very principles of transparency and accountability.

Our government increasingly relies on public-private partnerships to carry out major projects. Some of those arrangements may serve legitimate purposes. But the public isn’t capable of evaluating conduct that occurs in secrecy. These tactics should not become a mechanism for insulating decisions from public scrutiny. Taxpayers do not surrender their right to accountability when their dollars change bank accounts.

If government officials can avoid public records obligations merely by routing public funds through a private organization, then the constitutional guarantee of access to public documents becomes far easier to circumvent.

Transparency should follow the money — not the letterhead. Public money shouldn’t lose its public character because it passed through a private entity.

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