A $7 Million ‘Steal’: Why Prosecutors Are Suing Over an Amazon‑Linked Tech Sale

The Department of Justice says officials in Morrow County knew Windwave Communications was worth far more than its sale price. Now they’re facing civil charges for what the state calls a deliberate betrayal of public trust.

BY AMAYA NICHOLE, NEWS WRITER

When Amazon built its first data center in Morrow County, Oregon, it turned a quiet rural community into one of the most valuable technology corridors in the Pacific Northwest. Prosecutors say a handful of local officials noticed and moved to profit by selling a public asset for far less than it was worth.

The Oregon Department of Justice alleges that Windwave Communications—a fiber-optic technology provider located in Morrow County—was sold in 2018 for much less than it was truly worth because the sellers and buyers wanted to capitalize on Amazon’s booming data center business in the small community and generate a windfall for themselves.

As a result, four public officials, three other civic leaders, Windwave and the non-profit that previously owned Windwave—Inland Development Corp—are facing civil charges related to Amazon’s huge cluster of data centers in Morrow County.

At more than triple its sale price, the Department of Justice says Windwave was really worth at least $9.5 million, yet the company sold for just $2.6 million. According to The Oregonian, the DOJ alleges that Windwaves officials did this because they purposefully didn’t account for the value of the company’s business with Amazon when they proposed the sale price.

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Additionally, they allege misconduct by “established community leaders who abused their authority and breached the public trust for their personal financial gain.”

“You have people in this situation who knew that this company was undervalued and sold it to themselves and misled folks for personal gain,” Attorney General Dan Rayfield told The Oregonian. 

The defendants argue that it’s not fair to revisit the case now when they preemptively presented their plans to the DOJ the state did not object at the time. 

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