Ex-Amazon manager sentenced to 16 years in prison in $9 million theft scheme

In her role as an operations manager at an Amazon warehouse in Georgia, Kayricka Wortham had the authority to approve new vendors and their invoices.

But during her time there, federal prosecutors said, she used that power in another endeavor: Running a scheme by which $9.4 million was stolen from the company — money that, in part, Wortham used to buy a nearly $1 million home nearby, along with luxury cars, including a Tesla and a Lamborghini.

On Wednesday, Wortham, 32, was sentenced by a federal judge in Atlanta to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a plot that involved six other people, according to court documents.

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Wortham, who was charged in September 2022 and pleaded guilty in November, was also ordered to pay more than $9.4 million in restitution to Amazon, and her time in prison will be followed by three years of supervised release, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said in a statement Wednesday. The home that Wortham bought with the stolen money has been seized, along with several luxury vehicles, prosecutors said.

Ryan Buchanan, a federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement Wednesday that Wortham had “abused her position of trust at Amazon to steal.”

Wortham chose to represent herself in court, according to court documents. Nick Lotito, a lawyer who served as standby counsel for her, said in an email Thursday that the sentence was “greater than necessary.”

Amazon declined to comment on the case Thursday.

From August 2020 to March 2022, Wortham worked at an Amazon warehouse in Smyrna, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, as an operations manager.

Starting in January 2022, prosecutors said, Wortham told unknowing subordinates to input false vendor information into the Amazon system. Wortham would then approve the fake vendors and, along with others involved in the plot, file fake invoices to Amazon, according to charging documents. Then Wortham would approve the phony invoices, transferring money to bank accounts that she and her co-conspirators controlled, prosecutors said.

Wortham was helped in the scheme by Brittany Hudson, 37, of Atlanta, who owned a business contracted by Amazon to deliver packages and who was in a relationship with Wortham, prosecutors said. They contend that Hudson helped Wortham submit fake invoices to Amazon that were worth millions of dollars.

Together, Wortham and Hudson used the stolen money to buy a five-bedroom home in Smyrna, just miles from the Amazon warehouse, for nearly $1 million, along with a Lamborghini, a Tesla, a Porsche Panamera, a Kawasaki motorcycle and a Dodge Durango SUV, according to prosecutors. They also bought expensive jewelry with the stolen money, charging documents show.

After Wortham left Amazon in March 2022, the scheme continued, prosecutors said.

In January, while out on bond, Wortham and Hudson were working with a franchising company to try to open a hookah lounge, according to prosecutors. When the company asked them about the charges related to the Amazon case, Wortham and Hudson sent the company forged court documents indicating that charges had been dismissed in the case, according to prosecutors. Their bonds were revoked after the authorities learned about the forgery.

Last month, Hudson was indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges in the Amazon case. She and Wortham were also charged with forgery in connection with the effort to claim that charges in the Amazon case had been dismissed.

A lawyer for Hudson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Wortham and Hudson were assisted in the Amazon scheme by Demetrius Hines, who worked in loss prevention for Amazon, and Laquettia Blanchard, who was a human resources assistant at the company, according to prosecutors.

Hines and Blanchard gave Wortham names and Social Security numbers that were used to create some of the phony vendor accounts, according to prosecutors. Hines bought the stolen personal information from JaQuan Frazier, prosecutors said.

Hines pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in November. Last month, Blanchard pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, and Frazier pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, or acting to conceal a felony from the authorities.

Hines, Blanchard and Frazier will be sentenced at a later date, according to prosecutors. Lawyers for the three did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Two others have been charged in the Amazon theft scheme and their cases are still pending. It was unclear if they had lawyers.