Federal prosecutors have sued the owner of Portland's River Pig Saloon, alleging he fraudulently obtained nearly $350,000 in COVID-era relief funds for a Eugene college bar that had already lost its liquor license and shut its doors. The lawsuit claims Ramzy Peter Hattar told the Small Business Administration that Taylor's Bar & Grill still had 26 employees on payroll — weeks after Oregon regulators pulled the plug on the business for good.
According to a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Portland and reported by KPTV, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission stripped Taylor's of its liquor license on February 25, 2020, effectively closing the historic bar near the University of Oregon campus for good. Prosecutors say that just over a month later, on March 31, 2020, Hattar submitted an SBA disaster loan application on Taylor's behalf, certifying the money would be used strictly as working capital for pandemic-related economic injury and that the bar still had 26 employees.
Hattar operated Taylor's through a company called Zedan Outdoors, LLC, per the same account, which was administratively dissolved by the state in 2025. Court records cited by the station show the SBA disbursed an initial advance to the business in 2020, followed by an additional disaster loan disbursement in May of that year, with the company's accounts receiving a deposit of $135,700 on May 6, 2020.
A Bar With a Documented History of Violence
Taylor's wasn't just any campus watering hole. The bar operated for 98 years before closing, according to historical reporting from the Daily Emerald. But its final years were marred by trouble: the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's revocation order followed an investigation in which the OLCC notice listed 42 alleged incidents, with sufficient proof found for 36 of them, including severe assaults, alleged drink druggings, and patron brawls, the Daily Emerald reported.
The bar's reputation reached the highest levels of University of Oregon athletics. Former head football coach Willie Taggart testified under oath during a 2022 civil lawsuit that he explicitly instructed players during his 2017 coaching season to stay away from Taylor's due to safety concerns, according to the Lookout Eugene-Springfield. The Lookout Eugene-Springfield identifies the building on East 13th Avenue as the location where Taylor's once operated.
Loan Applications Listed a Portland Address
Rather than Taylor's Eugene location, Hattar listed 529 NW 13th Ave. in Portland — the address of his River Pig Saloon — as the bar's location on the March 31, 2020 loan application, per the complaint referenced by KPTV. Prosecutors allege that Hattar certified Taylor's had active employees, was paying payroll taxes, and needed PPP funds to retain staff, even though the business had already lost its license to operate weeks earlier.
Hattar filed a first-draw PPP loan application through Solera National Bank in 2020, according to prosecutors. He later applied for a second round of PPP funding in January 2021, but the government denied that application, the complaint states. The original PPP loan was never repaid or forgiven, court records show, and the SBA ultimately charged off the loan at a total loss exceeding $145,000 with interest.
Beyond the PPP loan, Hattar initially obtained a non-repayable $10,000 EIDL advance in March 2020 before securing a loan increase that expanded the total EIDL payout for Taylor's to $202,500 by May 2020, per KGW's reporting on the case. Combined, federal prosecutors say Hattar received $348,200 in pandemic relief funds tied to Taylor's Bar & Grill — funds authorized under the CARES Act, which Congress passed weeks after the bar's closure.
Why Prosecutors Can Still Sue Six Years Later
The lawsuit's timing traces back to a 2022 federal law that extended the statute of limitations for civil enforcement and criminal prosecution of Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan fraud to 10 years, according to Nixon Peabody LLP. That extension is what allows federal attorneys to bring a civil case now over loan applications submitted in early 2020.
The government brought the case under the federal False Claims Act, which allows prosecutors to seek treble damages and statutory penalties for each false record, KPTV reports. Under 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733, the law empowers the government to recover three times actual damages plus mandatory per-claim penalties adjusted annually for inflation, according to the Department of Justice. That structure is why Hattar could owe more than $1 million if found liable, even though the underlying relief funds totaled $348,200.
An Expanding Business Footprint
State business filings show Hattar as a manager for entities operating several additional dining and nightlife spots, including Besaw's brunch restaurant and Papi Chulo's taqueria in Portland, along with River Pig Saloon outposts in Bend, Oregon, and Dallas, Texas, per Lookout Eugene-Springfield's reporting. River Pig Saloon's flagship Portland location in the Pearl District was the site of a shooting and a separate stabbing incident during the year leading up to late 2026, KGW reported.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Staci Schoff and First Assistant U.S. Attorney William Narus are handling the case, according to KPTV. As of Friday, Hattar had no defense counsel listed in docket entries and had not entered an appearance in federal court. Hattar's business did not immediately return a request for comment, the station reported.
