WATCH: Salinas mayor talks Project Homekey hurdles, calls for criminal case against developer accused of misusing homekey project funding

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue confirms to Wake Up the city's efforts to ask the state attorney general to file a criminal case against a CFO accused of misusing Project Homekey funding.

Three projects in Salinas were held up for months and eventually placed into default.

The city is working to get the projects up and running after KION's previous reporting showed the former CFO of Shangri-La was accused of misusing the funding.

Instead of refurbishing the potential homeless housing sites, the CFO allegedly purchased lavish items, such as Louis Vuitton bags, VIP Coachella tickets and expensive jewelry among other items.

In a letter sent to Attorney General Rob Bonta, Mayor Dennis Donohue cited the "irreparable" harm this did to the city's efforts to provide housing for the homeless.

The full interview with Mayor Donohue is provided at the top of this article.

We also asked the mayor if the state dropped its charges against the city for not working quickly to develop the Homekey sites. The mayor told KION he was unaware if the charges were dropped and spokespersons for the city have not answered our requests for comment.