A minority-owned company that was allowed to open multiple souvenir shops at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport may be too dependent on its landlord, retail giant Hudson News, in violation of minority contracting rules, according to a financial audit.

The audit was conducted by state officials after they acknowledged finding problems in the statewide program that aims to give companies owned by women and minorities better access to state business.

The audit was ordered after articles in The Sun showed some firms may have been improperly approved for the program, including the one at the airport.

The company named in the audit, Olympic News, of Prince George's County, has long been the subject of questions by airport officials. Olympic News owner Sandy Roberts challenged the audit findings yesterday.

Hudson News, the airport's largest retailer, and Olympic sought to operate 18 stores as a partnership at the airport at the time concessions were being greatly expanded in 2004.

But BWI officials for two years refused to approve the partnership, saying they weren't convinced a member of a minority would control the business. Olympic then agreed to run its own stores and sublet space from Hudson.

But auditors said in the report that they observed Hudson workers in Olympic stores. They also noted that while Hudson reported Olympic's revenues, Olympic could not provide "any of their original records."

The observations "bring into question the independence of Olympic News," the report stated. Auditors said they have referred the issue to the airport's Office of Fair Practices, which is conducting a separate audit of minority businesses at the airport.

Roberts, who also runs a janitorial supply company in Prince George's County, said yesterday that register receipts of Olympic's five stores weren't available to auditors because they were stored off site.

Roberts said he did provide other financial information to them and challenged the auditors' claim that they saw Hudson workers operating his stores. "I hope they were shopping," he said.

"There is no issue as far as I'm concerned," he said. "At the end of the day, it's me. I run the company with my wife."

A number of locally owned minority- and women-owned businesses have complained they were treated unfairly by airport officials and BAA Maryland Inc., the management company hired in 2004 to overhaul shopping and dining options at the state-owned airport.

The state, airport and BAA still face lawsuits from two former tenants, a woman and a minority member who said they were unfairly forced out of business in favor of big national retailers. Other minority-owned businesses have left the airport and some have said they face financial hardship.

One of the lawsuits was filed Feb. 1 by Melissa Fulton, former owner of Celebrate Maryland, a locally owned group of souvenir shops that has gone out of business.

She has accused BAA of allowing Hudson and Olympic to open numerous stores at the airport to compete with hers because Olympic's revenue could help the management company more easily meet the minority participation goals in its contract with the state. Her initial suit had been dismissed but she filed an amended complaint.

Another lawsuit by a local African-American couple who once owned a Church's fried chicken restaurant also is being pressed. BAA and airport officials have declined to comment on the litigation.

The audit in general found no problems with financial reporting by BAA Maryland. The report was heavily redacted - virtually no information on rents or revenue appears - but offers a glimpse into the operations at the airport.

Additional financial information provided to The Sun yesterday showed that BAA is, however, not providing the level of revenue it had said it would return to taxpayers when it won the contract.

BAA estimated that it would return $110 million over 10 years, or $11 million annually. It returned $9.6 million last year, up 44 percent from 2006, according to an airport spokesman.

About 15 percent of the retail space at the airport is not yet filled, said Jonathan Dean, the airport spokesman.

Still, he said airport officials were pleased.

"BAA has put forth a considerable investment to produce a well-conceived, well-designed program," he said.

In a statement, BAA said it has "succeeded in attracting a wide array of high-quality restaurants and stores to BWI. They represent the finest national, regional and local brands and concepts."

Dean said BAA is not, however, meeting all of its minority goals. BAA is exceeding goals for minority-owned food and beverage shops, but it still falls short on the retail stores.

meredith.cohn@baltsun.com