PENCE & HOLCOMB’S HIGHWAY TO HELL: The Great Indiana I-69 Swindle

Hoosier Enquirer Exclusive • May 11th 2026

INDIANAPOLIS — Taxpayers fleeced for half a BILLION dollars… foreign crooks laughing all the way to the bank… local insiders pocketing fat land checks… and two governors caught in the middle. The I-69 Section 5 disaster isn’t just a highway boondoggle — it’s a full-blown Hoosier Highway Robbery that screams for a grand jury!

Here’s the jaw-dropping timeline the big shots in Indianapolis don’t want you to see:

2013–2014: Pence Signs the Sweetheart Deal

Freshly sworn in as Governor, Mike Pence makes finishing the I-69 “NAFTA Superhighway” his pet project. In 2014, his administration hands a juicy $325 MILLION design-build contract for the 21-mile Bloomington-to-Martinsville stretch to a Spanish outfit called Isolux Corsán and its partners.

Weeks later — Spanish cops arrest nine Isolux executives** in a massive bribery and embezzlement sting back home. Red flags everywhere. Did anyone in Indiana hit the brakes? Nope. Full speed ahead with Hoosier tax dollars!

2015: The Catalan “3% Bagman” Enters the Picture

While Pence is still running the state, Spanish police launch Operation Petrum on October 21 and slap the cuffs on Andreu Viloca — the treasurer of Catalonia’s big nationalist party. Prosecutors accuse Viloca of running the notorious “3% racket” — skimming illegal 3% kickbacks on public contracts and funneling the cash to his party bosses. Six corruption charges: bribery, money laundering, bid-rigging, the works.

Guess whose name pops up in the same sleazy web of contractors? Isolux Corsán — the very company Pence’s team gave the big Indiana contract to.

All year long, the FBI Indianapolis Division gets briefed on I-69 ethics complaints, shady land deals, and these exploding foreign bribery ties. What do the feds do? Jack squat. “No merit,” they say. Hoosiers want to know: **Who told them to look the other way?

2016–2017: The Whole Thing Blows Up

The project turns into a total clown show — endless delays, subcontractors screaming they’re not getting paid, and the Spanish-Canadian consortium bleeding cash. Pence heads off to become Vice President in January 2017.

Enter Eric Holcomb: The new governor is forced to pull the plug on the failing public-private partnership. The foreigners cough up a $50 million settlement plus $12 million to bondholders… but it’s too little, too late.

Construction costs explode from $369 million to $556 million — a 51% rip-off. Total tab for Hoosiers? Over half a BILLION dollars and climbing.

The Local Grift: Families Cash In Big

While the foreign players were cashing checks, families tied to top Indiana Department of Transportation brass sold land right along the I-69 route for a sweet $1.86 MILLION combined — including one tiny plot jacked up 43% above normal farmland prices. Ethics probes found conflicts and sleazy deals galore… but no criminal charges. Shocking.

The Big Question Hoosiers Are Asking

How did a Spanish company tied to a Catalan bribery kingpin ever get its hands on Indiana taxpayer money in the first place? Why did the FBI Indianapolis office know about the mess and do nothing? And why haven’t Mike Pence and Eric Holcomb faced real questions about how this disaster was awarded and then bailed out on our dime?

No smoking-gun indictments yet. But the stench of cronyism, foreign corruption, and cover-up is thicker than rush-hour traffic on I-69.

Hoosiers are fed up. Every time you sit in gridlock on that “superhighway” or pay your gas tax, remember: your money helped fund this fiasco.

It’s time for a full independent investigation — and real accountability.

What do YOU think, Indiana? Highway to Hell… or straight-up highway robbery? Drop your outrage below — the Hoosier Enquirer is listening!