Oregon officials are facing allegations of purchasing the fiber-optic provider Windwave for far less than its true value in 2018, potentially to benefit Amazon through tax breaks. The officials, who were also involved in awarding tax breaks to Amazon, are accused of abusing their authority and breaching public trust for personal financial gain. The state alleges the sale price did not account for Windwave's business serving Amazon.
Four local officials purchased Windwave from a local nonprofit the year before. The four played a role in awarding tax breaks to Amazon that have saved the tech giant more than $435 million. The Oregon Department of Justice alleges that a local fiber-optic provider, Windwave Communications, sold in 2018 for far less than it was truly worth because the sellers and buyers hid the value of Windwave’s business serving Amazon .
Before 2018, Windwave had been owned by a nonprofit called Inland Development Corp.land sales and enormous tax breaks . The four officials sometimes acted while they were in the process of buying the fiber-optic provider and sometimes acted after they had acquired Windwave. Windwave sold for $2.6 million in 2018. The Department of Justice says Windwave was really worth at least $9.5 million, more than triple its sale price. They allege Windwave’s buyers were “established community leaders who abused their authority and breached the public trust for their personal financial gain” because they didn’t account for the value of the company’s business with Amazon when they proposed the sale price. The defendants note that they presented their plans to the Department of Justice before the 2018 sale and the state did not object at the time. They argue it’s not fair to revisit the case, now, simply because Windwave outperformed its forecasts.“According to a plan they formulated in private,” the state alleges, “a small cadre of insiders” arranged to buy Windwave from the nonprofit they ran. Windwave’s buyers were five current and former members of Inland’s nonprofit board. Three of them quit the board right before Windwave’s sale and appointed their replacements, then asked the newly appointed board to approve the deal.Two of Windwave’s buyers served on the Port of Morrow commission. One was the port’s director. A fourth buyer was on the Morrow County commission. Those four were all involved in negotiating property tax breaks for Amazon’s local data centers. Those incentives have saved Amazon more than $430 million since 2017.alleging they sometimes failed to acknowledge they might benefit personally when, as public officials, they voted to award huge tax breaks to Amazon data centers in the region and to sell land to the company for more data centers. In the settlement, all three denied wrongdoing and note that they sometimes consulted with the ethics commission before their votes.Newly disclosed figures show Amazon paid Windwave more than $100 million in the first four years after the public officials bought the business, during a period Amazon was buying data centers and negotiating with local officials for tax breaks. Amazon is not a defendant in the state’s case. The Department of Justice has left open the possibility of taking action against the company, however. And in December, the department subpoenaed Amazon seeking documents “relating to Amazon’s knowledge and/or discussion of governmental positions held by Windwave’s officers, board members, or owners.”Windwave’s owners are all facing civil charges in the state’s lawsuit. They are: Jerry Healy ; Marv Padberg ; Don Russell ; Gary Neal ; Blake Lawrence . Three Inland board members who didn’t purchase Windwave are also facing civil charges because they approved the deal. The state says they didn’t properly scrutinize the transaction. These three are: Greg Smith ; Jill Parker ; Rich Devin . Windwave and Inland are also defendants in the state’s case.The Department of Justice has proposed various remedies for the alleged misconduct by Windwave’s buyers. Possibilities include Windwave’s buyers paying millions of dollars in compensation to Inland or, possibly, unwinding the deal and giving Windwave back to the nonprofit. The department says the statute of limitations has expired for criminal charges.Trump officials cite white supremacists in court bid to end birthright citizenship
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