An Amazon manager who masterminded an audacious $10 million fraud that allowed her to buy a Lamborghini and a mansion — where she lived with her co-conspirator girlfriend — is riding off to the Big House.
Kayricka Wortham, 32, an operations manager at the e-commerce giant’s Atlanta warehouse, was sentenced to 16 years in a federal prison for orchestrating the plot involving six others that bilked the e-commerce giant out of $9.4 million, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
She used the stolen money to fund an extravagant lifestyle for herself and her 37-year-old lover Brittany Hudson, the DOJ said.
The couple bought a fleet of luxury cars — including a Tesla, a Porsche and a Lamborghini — as well as a $1 million home in Smyrna, Ga., an Atlanta suburb near the Amazon warehouse where Wortham worked.
Wortham, who worked at the Amazon facility from about August 2020 to March 2022, was charged with wire fraud last September and pleaded guilty in November.
She “abused her position of trust at Amazon,” the DOJ said.
The feds seized the cars and home that Wortham bought with the stolen money, which were valued at about $2.7 million.
Wortham, who represented herself in court, was also ordered to pay $9.5 million in restitution to Amazon and faces three years of supervised release after she serves her long stint.
Nick Lotito, a lawyer who served as standby counsel for her, said the sentence was “greater than necessary,” per The New York Times.
A spokeswoman for Amazon declined to comment on the case.
The scheme involved Wortham submitting false invoices for fake vendors and then redirecting the funds to herself and six others in the theft ring, according to the feds.
Hudson, who owned a business contracted by Amazon to deliver packages, helped Wortham submit fake invoices to Amazon that were worth millions of dollars, according to prosecutors.
She was indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges last month.
Also involved in the plot were Demetrius Hines, who worked in loss prevention for Amazon, and human resources assistant Laquettia Blanchard, the feds said.
Hines and Blanchard reportedly provided Wortham with names and Social Security numbers that were used to falsify vendor accounts.
Hines bought the stolen personal information from JaQuan Frazier, who also pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.
Chief US District Judge Timothy C. Batten will sentence Hines, Blanchard and Frazier at a later date.
Also facing charges is Jamar L. James, an operations manager at another Georgia-based Amazon location in Duluth who Wortham allegedly recruited to provide her with falsified invoices.
The DOJ accused James of continuing to approve fake invoices on behalf of Amazon even after Wortham left the company in March 2022.
Charges against James and Darrel J. Burgo — who also allegedly sold people’s personal information to Wortham — are still pending.
Before Wortham was sentenced, she and Hudson were free on bail and worked with a franchising company to try to open a hookah bar, Cru Lounge, in Midtown Atlanta, the DOJ’s statement said.
The couple allegedly sent forged court documents signed by a federal judge and stamped with a fake seal of Northern District of Georgia court indicating that the charges had been dismissed.
Hudson also allegedly emailed the franchising company false bank documents that inflated the balances in her accounts.
When prosecutors learned of the forgery, Wortham and Hudson’s bonds were revoked. Charges in that case are pending.
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