The mayor of Mobile, Ala., confirmed Wednesday that the city was targeted in a criminal scheme that sent $14.7 million in city funds to a fraudulent entity.
According to Fox 54, the money was stolen in a single wire transfer related to construction of Regions Arena in early October.
Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis expressed his frustration during a press conference, saying city residents had a right to be angry.
“It was your money, and we have a duty to protect it,” the mayor said.
The city, Cherigotis said, is now tasked with finding out what happened. An investigation is underway. The city has brought in outside experts to help find answers and that the city is working with federal investigators to recover as much of the money as possible.
The incident follows on the heels the City of Arab being defrauded of $432,739.21 in March for a construction payment scam tied to its new Recreation Center.
Arab officials said an individual or group posing as an officer of FITE Construction, the contractor building the center, caused the payment to be sent to an unauthorized recipient. The city described the incident as invoice fraud and said no personal, employee or citizen data was compromised.
