Markets 
An Atlanta woman who participated in a scheme that defrauded Amazon out of nearly $10 million was sentenced to over 16 years in federal prison on Wednesday, the Justice Department announced.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a release that Brittany Hudson was sentenced to 16 years and three months in federal prison after she and her partner used a business relationship with Amazon to defraud the e-commerce giant.
Hudson was convicted in March of 30 felony offenses that involved wire fraud, money laundering, related conspiracy charges and a count related to the forgery of a federal judge’s signature.
AMAZON PLANS MASSIVE EXPANSION OF PRIME AIR DRONE DELIVERIES
“Hudson and her partner engineered a massive fraud scheme against Amazon, stealing nearly $10 million in just a few months,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
“Hudson then showed utter contempt for the law by forging a federal judge’s signature in a failed effort to defraud another company while out on bond. Today’s significant sentence, which must be served without the possibility of parole, holds her accountable for her crime spree.”
From January 2022 to June 2022, Hudson and her partner, Kayricka Wortham, defrauded Amazon using a scheme that involved bogus vendors and invoices that they created in Amazon’s vendor system, according to the DOJ announcement. Wortham and another co-conspirator at Amazon approved the fake vendor profiles, which allowed them to submit invoices.
Hudson and Wortham then submitted over 1,000 fictitious invoices, falsely claiming the phony vendors had provided goods and services to Amazon. Wortham would approve the invoices, which led to Amazon transferring about $9.4 million to bank accounts that she, Hudson and their co-conspirators controlled.
Hudson and Wortham used the fraudulent funds to buy expensive real estate, including a nearly $1 million home in Smyrna, and luxury vehicles, including a 2019 Lamborghini Urus, a 2021 Dodge Durango, a 2022 Tesla Model X, a 2018 Porsche Panamera, and a Kawasaki ZX636 motorcycle.
AMAZON PRIME SETTLEMENT: HOW ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS CAN CLAIM THEIR REFUND
The two faced federal fraud charges related to the scheme in September 2022. While they were out on bond, they attempted to defraud a franchising company by entering into an agreement to open a hookah lounge in Midtown Atlanta and falsely claimed their criminal charges had been dismissed. Those actions resulted in the revocation of their pretrial release.
To support that claim, they emailed counterfeit court documents that contained the forged signatures of former Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. and Cobb County Magistrate Judge Norman L. Barnett, who was a prosecutor in the case. Hudson also emailed fake financial statements with inflated account balances to secure the deal.
“The sentencing in this case brings a brazen fraud operation to its inevitable conclusion — years behind bars for the criminals involved,” said Rob Donovan, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service Atlanta Field Office. “Our office remains steadfast in our commitment to uncover fraud, protect victims and work with our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office to bring criminals like this to justice.”
AMAZON’S 30-MINUTE DELIVERY PUSH RAISES STAKES IN RACE FOR SPEED
In addition to her prison sentence, Hudson was ordered to pay $9,469,731 in restitution to Amazon, while the court entered a forfeiture money judgment of $7,859,136 and ordered Hudson to forfeit her residence in Smyrna and money seized from her bank account as fraudulent proceeds of her scheme.
Wortham was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2023 and was sentenced to an additional year in March 2026 after pleading guilty to forging the signature of a federal judge. She was also ordered to pay $9,469,731 in restitution and forfeited over $3 million, the Smyrna home and vehicles.
Read the full article here
