Ex-Amazon Manager Whole Stole $10 Million Sentenced to 16 Years. For stealing more than $9.4 million from Amazon.com while working as a manager for the company, Kayricka Wortham, 32, received a sentence.
Wortham is one of seven people who have now been accused of participating in the scam.
Kayricka Wortham took advantage of her position at Amazon to hand in more than $10 million in fake invoices for fictitious merchants, resulting in Amazon paying Wortham and her coworkers around $9.4 million.
According to the prosecution, Wortham used the money she stole to purchase a fleet of expensive cars and a $1 million home.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
“She then committed new crimes while on bond, even creating a fake dismissal document purporting to be from the court and that included the forged signature of the Chief U.S. District Judge, all to mislead a franchising company about the status of her criminal charges.”
Input Fake Vendor Data Into Amazon’s Vendor System
Wortham served as an operations manager at the Amazon Warehouse in Smyrna, Georgia, from about August 2020 until March 2022.
In her role as a manager, Wortham had the power to approve new suppliers for Amazon as well as the payment of vendor invoices.
The mastermind behind the plan, Wortham, instructed her ignorant employees to enter fictitious vendor data into Amazon’s vendor system.
After the data was input, Wortham gave the fictitious vendors approval so they could send bills. Then Wortham and the others deceitfully represented that the vendors had given Amazon goods and services by submitting fabricated invoices to Amazon.
Amazon sent millions of dollars in illicit revenues to Wortham’s and other people’s bank accounts after she accepted the invoices.
In the scam, Wortham collaborated with other people, including Brittany Hudson. While in a relationship with Wortham, Hudson owned Legend Express LLC, a company that had a contract with Amazon to deliver products to consumers.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that Hudson is also accused of collaborating with Wortham to send Amazon millions of false invoices for fake vendors.
Wortham Recruited Co-workers To Participate In The Plan
Demetrius Hines, a loss prevention specialist at various Amazon facilities in Georgia, and Laquettia Blanchard, a senior human resources assistant at the business, were allegedly recruited by Wortham to participate in the plan.
To construct fictitious vendor accounts, Hines and Blanchard allegedly provided Wortham with names and Social Security numbers.
According to the prosecution at Amazon’s office in Duluth, Georgia, Hines also hired a different operations manager accused of approving fake invoices and false vendors, particularly after Wortham departed the company in March 2022.
Sentencing
Kayricka Wortham was given a sentence of 16 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $9,469,731.45 in restitution to Amazon by Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr.
The Smyrna home, the automobiles bought with illicit funds, and more than $2.7 million in fraudulent proceeds were confiscated from several bank accounts. After entering a guilty plea, Wortham was found guilty of the Amazon fraud charges on November 30, 2022.
Brittany Hudson for impersonating a federal judge and the court’s seal. The charges are pending. Demetrius Hines pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.
“This individual stole millions from a business that employed her – exploiting not only their trust but our nation’s financial systems. Her sentence reflects the seriousness of her crimes and sends a message that this kind of fraudulent activity will not be tolerated”, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Atlanta Field Office Steven R. Baisel.
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