JTA’s former CEO’s $219K travel expenses draw investigators’ attention

Expensive hotel stays, costly airline tickets and thousands of dollars in travel expenses — all billed during the tenure of Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s former CEO Nat Ford — are now in the hands of investigators.Three separate investigations into JTA’s finances are currently underway, and Ford’s travel records are a focal point of that scrutiny.$219K in travel costs over nearly a decadeA News4JAX I-TEAM review of JTA travel spreadsheets covering 2016 through 2025 found more than $219,000 in expenses tied to Ford’s business trips. The breakdown:More than $80,000 in airfare$70,000 in hotel costsRoughly $50,000 in conference registrationsRELATED | Former JTA finance chief questioned about his part in $40M shortfallSome individual trips draw particular attention. In 2023, records showed Ford traveled to Spain for an international public transportation conference at a cost of more than $9,800 — including nearly $5,300 for airfare alone. That same year, a trip to Germany for an a