Auditla - The People's Karen is Qanon Adherent Jo Ann Rivas

In a series of articles published on IndyBay last year, Jo Ann Rivas aka Jo Ann Gilbert Rivas – now known as Youtube Personality ‘Audit LA’ was exposed for her own questionable history of public fraud and corruption.

These sparked a conversation on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/protestscientology/comments/1flq9h2/auditla_corrupt_north_hollywood_neighborhood/

Multiple articles (linked below) have been written – but for those who are short on time, here is the skinny;

From 2013 – 2016, Jo Ann Rivas now known as ‘Audit LA’ was enrolled as a non-traditional student in the Media Arts Department at Los Angeles Valley College (one of two junior colleges in the San Fernando Valley). During that time the college was the recipient of grants and advertised technical career education in the film industry. Per multiple accreditation complaints, lawsuits, emails and petitions, etc . . . despite the college receiving funding and faculty being paid six-figure salaries, the students did not receive the training or education they signed-up for.

Rivas aka ‘Audit LA’ was aware of this and even wrote her own letter of complaint to the school about the situation.

Records have since shown that during this time and despite having no professional history, ‘Audit LA’ received payment from the Los Angeles Community College District as a ‘professional expert’ being listed at at least one event as a “Casting Director” despite having only one professional credit as an assistant on an indie film.

(This in turn is even more questionable due to the fact that multiple press releases that claimed to have auditioned a number of famous entertainers, including Katy Perry and Megan Fox. The filmmaker was a friend of Rivas’s from Los Angeles Valley College and had a criminal history of fraud and attempted murder going back over two decades in multiple states.) http://christiannewswire.com/news/8421678592.html

Rivas was also in this capacity a member of the LAVC Media Arts Advisory Meetings, and listed as being affiliated with the LAPD.

In 2016, Los Angeles Valley College was approved construction of a $68 million dollar complex for the Media Arts Department despite all this. At the time Jo Ann Rivas was a member of the NoHo Neighborhood Council and was selected to be a member of the LAVC Citizens Building Oversight Committee to ensure that the fraud that happened in past bond issues didn’t happen again. The committee’s meeting minutes stop in 2018.

In 2020, the building was not even 50% finished and a Twitter Feed @LaccdW began exposing alot of issues in the LACCD, particularly at Los Angeles Valley College. The feed also exposed Jo Ann Rivas’s connections and endorsed a reform slate of candidates for Board of Trustees. Rivas responded by attacking that Twitter feed accusing it of being run by a former LAVC student she described as "a sociopath" that she had been involved in a legal action against. The feed was permanently suspended a few months later after complaints from either Rivas or the LACCD. It was re-instated two years later after Twitter's sale to Elon Musk. Rivas also described herself on Twitter as Qanon, MAGA, Trump etc . . .

In 2022, The Los Angeles Times published findings of arbitration between LACCD and Pinner Construction (the company building the Valley Academic and Cultural Center) showing that the building was a massive racketeering scheme to defraud Pinner and that the bulk of the fraud had occurred during the period of time that Rivas was on the LAVC CBAC. This situation has since blown-up further with tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits against LACCD for fraud by Pinner.

In 2023, during a massive movement that pushed out former LAVC President Erika Endrijonas from her position as President/Superintendent at Pasadena City College (a movement that involved the Academic Senate, Faculty Union, Part-time Adjuncts, several trustees and the President of the Board of Trustees), a series of articles were published with supporting documentation about multiple people including Jo Ann Rivas engagement in fraud during their time at LAVC.

One of them suggested that LAVC awarded fake degrees and documented that LAVC’s Media Arts Department Chair Eric Swelstad had in fact fabricated his membership in the Writers Guild of America – West. It also showed that students that complained or spoke out were retaliated against and stalked even after they left campus.

Rivas or Audit LA, despite her self-documented history of “confronting the bad guys” not only did nothing, unpublished documents suggest she participated in smear campaigns against the the student whistleblowers and actively engaged in conspiracy to silence them ahead of the meeting where the Board of Trustees voted on approving the Valley Academic and Cultural Center.

In 2023, Rivas also joined both the NoHo and Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Councils. As of this writing it would appear she is no longer on the councils.

Jo Ann Rivas now brags on her X.com account that she somehow obtained confidential communications between the Church of Scientology and LAPD, regarding a series of threatening incidents including Bomb Threats, Swatting Incidents, etc . . . they claim is directed by associates of Jo Ann Rivas.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tbPFXdD6FfZ6DxvXPYdq29IXNpmm1bGc/view

Rivas now builds up her supposed brand of being a whistleblower, while soliciting donations through patreon and other platforms. According to the reddit thread, she has yet to address the accusations against her. Rivas also hasn't address her past Qanon content on Twitter either.

So that’s the long of the short of it.

To read previous articles search IndyBay for LACCD or refer below

Running list of articles published to date.


August 13, 2024 Santa Barbara City College President Erika Endrijonas Garners Lawsuit
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/08/13/18868680.php


August 13, 2024, Key Players in L.A. Community College Building Fraud Ousted From Leadership Positions
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/08/13/18868677.php

March 29, 2024, Pinner files a more than $35 million lawsuit against the LACCD for wrongful termination
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/03/29/18864674.php

February 13, 2024 LAVC Media Arts Department - Full-Time Phantom Professor
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/02/13/18863086.php

February 5, 2024, LAVC Full-Time Faculty Running Off Students – Preventing Graduation
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/02/05/18862840.php

February 8, 2024, LAVC Grant Director Falsified Resumes/Employment Histories
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2024/02/08/18862904.php

September 27, 2023, Breaking: Ex-LACCD Trustee Promised Fraud Investigation in 2020!
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/09/27/18859207.php

September 4, 2024, Murder, Corruption, Fraud and Felons at LAVC Exposed in 2020
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/09/04/18858739.php

August 22, 2023, Caltech Labor Consultant Enabled Scott Svonkin’s Alleged Abusive Behavior
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/22/18858482.php

August 19, 2023, Breaking: CALTECH Hires LAVC Stalker as Labor Consultant
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/19/18858428.php

August 16, Update: LAVC Administrator Retaliated Against Student Whistleblowers She Stalked
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/16/18858350.php


August 13, 2023, Update: Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council President Recruited QAnon Adherent to Run
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/13/18858321.php

August 11, 2023, QANON Adherent worms into Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council/ Tony Cardenas Office
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/11/18858292.php

August 8, 2023, LAVC Omsbudsman Stalked Whistleblowers
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/08/18858260.php

August 5, 2023, Erika Endrijonas Legal Mess Lands In Federal Court
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/08/05/18858077.php

June 8, 2023, Los Angeles Daily News killed coverage on L.A. Valley College Scandal
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/06/08/18856505.php

June 5, 2023, Erika Endrijonas Beneficiary of Santa Barbara News BlackOut
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/06/05/18856458.php

May 29, 2023, L.A. Valley College Employees Should Be Prime Suspects in Van Nuys Campus Burglaries
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/29/18856377.php

May 23, 2023, Breaking: Los Angeles Valley College Website Hacked AGAIN!
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/23/18856288.php

May 22, 2023, Latest Update on the North Hollywood/Van Nuys Los Angeles Valley College Scandal
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/22/18856265.php

May 21, 2023, Two Los Angeles Film Professors Bilked Taxpayers Over $3.5 Million Dollars
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/21/18856242.php

May 19, 2023, Los Angeles Valley College perpetuated wage theft against students on Julie Su's watch
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/19/18856160.php

May 18, 2023, Corrupt North Hollywood Neighborhood Council Rep Turned Blind Eye To College Fraud
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/18/18856131.php


May 17, 2023, Van Nuys/Los Angeles College Screenwriting Professor Faked Writer’s Guild Membership
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/17/18856103.php

May 15, 2023, North Hollywood Neighborhood Council Rep Censors IndyBay!
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/15/18856080.php

May 14, 2023, Everything we know about the Van Nuys/North Hollywood Los Angeles Valley College scandal
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/14/18856034.php


May 13, 2023, Controversial NoHo Neighborhood Rep Named In Racketeering Scheme at Los Angeles College
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/13/18856001.php

May 11, 2023, Did L.A. Valley College award Fake Degrees?
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/11/18855960.php

May 9, 2023, Breaking: LA Valley College Building Delayed Till 2025
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/09/18855924.php

May 8, 2023, L.A. City College Presidential Hopeful Fostered Retaliation Culture as LAVC President
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/08/18855902.php


May 5, 2023, Dozen LAVC Cinema Student Narratives challenges Erika Endrijonas’s LACCD Success Story
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/05/18855819.php

May 2, 2023, Erika Endrijonas faces new questions in LACCD fraud
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/05/02/18855726.php