ATLANTA — A former Amazon manager and her partner used more than 1,000 fake invoices to take about $9.4 million from the company in 2022, federal prosecutors said. A federal judge sentenced one of the women Wednesday after a jury convicted her of 30 felonies.
The sentence: 40-year-old Brittany Hudson of Atlanta received 16 years and three months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervision after her release. The court also ordered her to pay Amazon $9,469,731.45.
A jury convicted Hudson March 13 of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and forging a federal judge’s signature.
The court ordered Hudson to give up her Smyrna home and money seized from her bank account. It also entered a judgment requiring her to give up nearly $7.9 million tied to the fraud.
The Amazon fraud: Hudson owned a delivery business that had a contract with Amazon. Her partner, 35-year-old Kayricka Wortham of Atlanta, worked as an operations manager at an Amazon warehouse in Smyrna and had the power to approve vendors and invoice payments, prosecutors said.
From January to June 2022, prosecutors said Hudson and Wortham created dozens of fake vendors in Amazon’s payment system. They submitted more than 1,000 invoices for goods and services the vendors never provided.
Wortham approved the invoices, leading Amazon to send about $9.4 million to bank accounts controlled by Hudson, Wortham and others, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said the money paid for a Smyrna home valued at nearly $1 million, four luxury vehicles and a motorcycle.
The forged documents: Federal prosecutors charged Hudson and Wortham in September 2022. While free on bond in January 2023, the women sought an agreement to open a hookah lounge in Midtown Atlanta.
Prosecutors said they falsely told the franchise company that the Amazon charges had been dismissed. They emailed fake court records bearing forged signatures from former Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. and Cobb County Magistrate Judge Norman L. Barnett, who was then a prosecutor in the Amazon case.
Hudson also sent altered financial statements showing larger account balances, prosecutors said. A judge then revoked both women’s release.
Wortham’s sentence: Wortham received a 16-year federal prison sentence in June 2023 and was ordered to pay the same restitution amount. She also gave up more than $3 million, the Smyrna house and vehicles bought with the money.
A judge added one year to her sentence March 25 after she pleaded guilty to forging a federal judge’s signature. Her total sentence is 17 years.
B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- Driver dies after vehicle flips on Richmond County interstate ramp
- Gwinnett Chinese restaurant fails health inspection with a 44
- Prime crime: $9.4 million Amazon scammer gets 16 years
- Muscogee County school officials misunderstood a new law and 30 foster kids can't enroll in school
- Escaped Spalding County Inmate Caught After Hours on the Run
