Two Atlanta women now face 16 years in federal prison after a jury convicted them of running a scheme that stole almost $10 million from Amazon — along with a host of other crimes, including forging a judge’s signature.
A judge sentenced Brittany Hudson to 16 years in prison last week, followed by three years of supervised release. Her accomplice, Kayricka Wortham, received a similar sentence of 16 years in 2023. A judge added another year to Wortham’s sentence in March of this year after she pleaded guilty to forging a federal judge’s signature. A court has also ordered both women to pay $9,469,731.45 in restitution to Amazon and to forfeit their home and vehicles.
A jury convicted Hudson this March of 30 felony offenses, and she will not be eligible for parole, the Justice Department said.
“Hudson and her partner engineered a massive fraud scheme against Amazon, stealing nearly $10 million in just a few months,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg in a statement.
“Hudson then showed utter contempt for the law by forging a federal judge’s signature in a failed effort to defraud another company while out on bond. Today’s significant sentence … holds her accountable for her crime spree.”
‘Greed gone wild’
Authorities paint Hudson as the ringleader in the crime spree. She owned a business that delivered packages for Amazon and maintained a romantic relationship with Wortham, who worked as an operations manager at an Amazon warehouse outside of Atlanta.
From January through June of 2022, officials say, the two used phony invoices and put fake vendors into the company’s vendor system. Wortham’s position gave her the authority to approve new vendors and invoice payments. Ultimately, Hudson and Wortham submitted more than 1,000 fictitious invoices, which Wortham approved.
The pair reportedly spent the stolen money on a $1 million house and several high-end cars, including a 2019 Lamborghini Urus and a 2018 Porsche Panamera. Authorities charged the pair in September 2022.
The U.S. Secret Service, in announcing Hudson’s conviction earlier this year, called it a case “that can only be described as greed gone wild.”
From bad to worse
While out on bond, the Justice Department says, the duo attempted to defraud a franchising company. They allegedly told the operator of a hookah lounge that a court had dismissed their Amazon-related charges, emailed inaccurate financial statements, and sent counterfeit court documents bearing the forged signatures of former Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. and Cobb County Magistrate Judge Norman L. Barnett, who was then one of the prosecutors on the case.
“Not exactly the smartest move when you have a federal case still pending,” wrote the Atlanta Field Office of the Secret Service.
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