The attorney general's office is examining the $335,000 salary and $400,000 severance package granted to Herbert Chesbrough, the center's outgoing president, and looking into the possibility that the center illegally did business with companies linked to members of its board, according to the Times. (The center rescinded the severance package last month.)

The audit was launched in February 2004 after SPAC announced that financial problems would prevent it from continuing the New York City Ballet's annual summer residency.

Stephen Serlin, the chairman of SPAC's board, said that center's staff looked forward to resolving the controversy and concentrating on the performing arts. "SPAC is bigger and more vibrant than these legal activities," he said.