Oklahoma County District Attorney Calls For Audit On State Tourism Deal With Swadley's BBQ

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater is now calling for an audit on the agreement between the state tourism department and Swadley’s BBQ.

According to the letter from Prater declaring this a criminal investigation, the alleged mismanagement of taxpayer money has resulted in at least $4.5 million in excess payments to Swadley’s BBQ.

The letter is written out to State Auditor Cindy Byrd after Prater says he reviewed the report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency.

Prater has previously verbally made the request for the OSBI to initiate a criminal investigation.

In the letter, Prater says he is asking that the audit team and OSBI work together to determine if there have been any violations to Oklahoma statutes.

During a press conference Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt was asked if he would pursue an audit himself and he said if it wasn't already being done that he would.

"Here is the deal, if there is a vendor out there or if there is a contract, that this contract or this vendor is not performing correctly or overcharging the state, we will find that out. We will sue that vendor and we will get the taxpayer’s money back," said Stitt.

Because this is a criminal investigation, the findings will be kept confidential until the conclusion of the investigation.