Metro Atlanta couple convicted of fraud scheme that stole nearly $10 million from Amazon
(Courtesy: MGN)
A federal jury has convicted a metro Atlanta woman on dozens of charges as part of a fraud scheme that stole nearly $10 million from Amazon.
Prosecutors say Brittany Hudson, a contractor to the massive e-commerce company, and the woman with whom she was in a romantic relationship used fake vendors and invoices to steal the money, and even forged the signature of former Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. on a fake court document.
According to investigators, Hudson was in a relationship with Kayricka Wortham, who worked as an operations manager at Amazon’s Smyrna warehouse.
From around January to June 2022, the couple tricked unknowing subordinates into adding fake vendors to the company’s system, officials said. They then sent in forged invoices that showed the fake vendors had provided Amazon with various goods and services. In her position, Wortham approved the invoices, transferring $9.4 million to bank accounts the couple and other co-conspirators owned.
Hudson and Wortham used the money to buy a nearly $1 million home in Smyrna, a 2019 Lamborghini Urus, a 2021 Dodge Durango, a 2022 Tesla Model X, a 2018 Porsche Panamera, a Kawasaki ZX636 motorcycle, and other purchases.
In September, 2022, federal authorities charged Hudson and Wortham as part of an investigation into the fraud scheme. Prosecutors say they then lied to potential business partners that the charges had been dismissed, and provided them with fake court documents to prove their statements, as well as forged bank statements.
“The level of greed on the part of the perpetrators in this case was staggering,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Donovan of the U.S. Secret Service Atlanta Field Office. “Leveraging personal relationships, she stole millions from Amazon and was so confident she wouldn’t be caught, she even forged the signature of a federal judge with the intent of defrauding a second company. Thanks to the diligent work of our agents and the prosecution team at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, her days of defrauding others have come to an end.”
In 2023, Wortham was sentenced to 16 years in prison with three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $9.4 million in restitution to Amazon. She pleaded guilty to forgery in 2025 and will be sentenced for that charge on March 25.
Last week, a jury convicted Hudson on two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 17 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, nine counts of money laundering, and one count of forgery of the signature of a federal judge.
She is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
