Portland Recovers $6.7 Million Paid to Fraudster Who Posed as Vendor on Bull Run Water Project

PORTLAND, Ore. — The City of Portland has recovered the $6.7 million it paid to someone posing as a vendor on the multi-billion-dollar Bull Run water filtration project.

The incident occurred earlier this year, in February, when someone posing as the vendor of the project requested a change to the bank account information. The following month, the City of Portland paid $6,748,680.68 into the so-called vendor’s new bank account.

However, the person’s suspicious activities had already aroused the interest of FBI agents, who alerted the banks handling the transaction and the payment was stopped.

The City of Portland confirmed in a news release on Friday that the money had been returned and that a criminal investigation is underway.

The $6.7 million was previously in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service while federal and local law enforcement agencies investigated the fraud.