Kayricka Wortham worked at an Amazon warehouse in Georgia. Scott Olson/Getty Images
A former Amazon executive has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for committing nearly $10 million in fraud.
Kayricka Wortham invented suppliers and forged invoices. She transferred the funds to bank accounts she controlled.
Wortham spent the money on a $1 million home in Georgia and on Tesla and Lamborghini cars.
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A former Amazon executive became imprisoned for 16 years after running a $9.4 million fraud ring while working for the online retail giant.
Kayricka Wortham worked as an operations manager at an Amazon warehouse in Smyrna, Georgia from August 2020 to March 2022. She used her position to create fake suppliers and passed them to unwitting employees for processing, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
She then issued fake invoices for these suppliers linked to bank accounts she and her accomplices controlled.
Wortham conspired with Brittany Hudson, with whom she was dating, during the plan. Hudson ran the lodist Legend Express LLC, which U.S. Attorneys said was hired by Amazon to deliver packages to customers.
The couple used the proceeds from these fictional bills to buy a $1 million home in Smyrna, a Lamborghini Urus, a Dodge Durango, and a Tesla Model X, among other things.
Kayricka Wortham bought cars including a Lamborghini Urus. Lamborghini
Wortham also worked with other Amazon employees, including a claims prevention worker and a senior human resources manager, to carry out her plan, according to U.S. Attorneys.
The two employees provided Wortham with additional names and social security numbers to create more fake seller accounts.
Further fraud allegations were leveled against her for forging court documents in order to contract with the CRUS Franchising Company to franchise a hookah lounge in Atlanta.
Wortham, 32, was sentenced to 16 years in prison followed by three years of supervised imprisonment. She was also ordered to pay Amazon nearly $9.5 million in refunds.
Wortham represented himself in court, according to court documents obtained by the New York Times present. Nick Lotito, a lawyer who served as her public defender, told the Times the fine was “heavier than necessary”.
The home and cars Wortham bought have already been seized, as has $2.7 million in cash from multiple bank accounts.
“This individual stole millions from a company that employed him, thereby exploiting not only their trust but also our nation’s financial system,” Steven R. Baisel of the US Secret Service said in a statement.
“Thanks to the hard work of our partners in the US Attorney’s Office, their conviction reflects the seriousness of their crimes and sends a message that this type of fraudulent activity will not be tolerated.”
U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said Wortham also “committed new criminal offenses while on bail, even creating a forged release document purporting to be from the court and containing the forged signature of the U.S. Chief District Judge, all to that end.” to mislead a franchising company about the status of their criminal charges”.
Charges are pending against Hudson and two others. Three other defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and incitement to commit a crime and will be sentenced at a later date.
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