Amazon manager stole nearly $10 million, gets prison: feds | Miami Herald
A former Amazon operations manager — dubbed the “mastermind” behind a scheme in which nearly $10 million was stolen from the company — is going to federal prison, prosecutors announced. Now she owes the company $9,469,731 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. While working at an Amazon warehouse in Smyrna, Georgia, the woman recruited others, including an Amazon loss prevention employee and a senior human resources assistant, in a fraud scheme that also involved her girlfriend’s assistance to steal more than $9.4 million, officials said. With the company’s money, she and the girlfriend went on a spending spree and bought a nearly $1 million home in Smyrna, Georgia, and several luxury cars, including a Lamborghini, Porsche and Tesla, according to prosecutors. Now, a judge has sentenced the former Amazon manager, of Atlanta, to 16 years in federal prison, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a July 5 news release. “The defendant abused her position of trust at Amazon to steal nearly $10 million from the company based on a brazen fraud scheme involving fake vendors and fictitious invoices,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement.
Her sentencing comes as officials have seized more than $2.7 million from her bank accounts, according to prosecutors. Additionally, the Smyrna home, 2019 Lamborghini Urus, 2021 Dodge Durango, 2022 Tesla Model X, 2018 Porsche Panamera, and a Kawasaki ZX636 motorcycle purchased in the scheme have all been forfeited, prosecutors said. The woman began defending herself in the case after her two attorneys were terminated from representing her on Feb. 17, according to court records, which didn’t list contact information for her as of July 6. Charges are still pending against her and her girlfriend, 37, of Atlanta, according to prosecutors. They’re accused of forging a federal judge’s signature while out on bond as they tried closing a deal to open a hookah lounge in Midtown Atlanta in January.
McClatchy News contacted an attorney representing the girlfriend for comment on July 6 and was awaiting a response. HOW THE FRAUD SCHEME UNFOLDED While working for Amazon from August 2020 until March 2022, the former manager was in charge of approving new vendors for the company and ensuring vendor invoices were paid, McClatchy News previously reported. The fraud scheme involved creating fake vendors and submitting “more than $10 million in fictitious invoices for those vendors, causing Amazon to transfer approximately $9.4 million to bank accounts controlled by (the manager) and her co-conspirators,” court documents state. Unsuspecting Amazon employees working under the manager were directed by her to enter fake vendor information into the company’s system, according to officials.
In addition, the Amazon loss prevention worker and senior HR assistant involved in the scheme helped give names and Social Security numbers to the manager for fake vendor accounts, the release said. Then, fake invoices approved by the manager were sent to Amazon for payment while “falsely representing that the vendors had provided goods and services to Amazon,” prosecutors said. The woman’s girlfriend is accused of helping submit the fake invoices while owning Legend Express LLC, a business that contracted with Amazon and delivered packages to its customers, according to officials.
Another Amazon operations manager, who worked at a company facility in Duluth, joined the scheme after being recruited by the loss prevention employee to approve fake vendors and invoices, prosecutors said. This manager, 47, of Calera, Alabama, is facing pending charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering, according to the release. Information regarding his legal representation wasn’t listed in court records as of July 6. The Amazon loss prevention employee pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on Nov. 30, according to the release. The senior HR assistant pleaded guilty to the same charge on June 27, prosecutors said.
McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing them for comment on July 6 and was awaiting a response. Although prosecutors have publicly identified the defendants and co-conspirators named in the case, McClatchy News isn’t doing so because they’re not accused of violent crimes causing direct physical harm to another person. THE ATTEMPT TO OPEN A HOOKAH LOUNGE In January, the former Amazon manager and her girlfriend tried opening a hookah lounge with CRU Franchising Company — which ultimately learned about the criminal charges against them, prosecutors said. The couple tried lying to CRU by saying the charges were dismissed, according to officials. To support this, they forged court documents with fake signatures purporting to be from Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten and emailed them to CRU, according to officials. As a result, the former Amazon manager was indicted in the CRU case, prosecutors said.
Additionally, both women were indicted on charges of forging the signature of a federal judge and seal of the court, according to the release.
