COLUMBUS, Ohio — In December 2019, a former Amazon employee sent an anonymous email to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his ethics team.
The email claimed that a kickback scheme was happening involving land deals with Amazon’s data centers in Virginia.
The informant named Carl Nelson and others and provided documents about the alleged crime. A crime involving millions of dollars.
By January, Amazon lawyers contacted federal prosecutors and by April, the FBI paid a visit to Carl and Amy Nelson’s Seattle home.
What transpired over the next four years, would nearly destroy the Nelson family financially.
While never being charged with a crime, the Department of Justice arrested their money. Their bank accounts were seized and their credit cards were frozen.
It’s called civil asset forfeiture.
According to the US Department of Treasury, “Asset forfeiture is a vital legal tool that serves a number of compelling law enforcement purposes and is designed to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes, to break the financial backbone of organized criminal syndicates and drug cartels, and to recover property that may be used to compensate victims and deter crime.”
But what happens if the charges against you are dropped? What happens to your money then? Under the law, you will have to sue the government to get your money back.
“What Jeff Bezos has done to my family should be on the front page of every newspaper in America but it's not,” says Amy, who has chronicled her and her husband’s fight against the government through their TikTok account. The account now has more than 200,000 followers.
“We've spent $3 million at this point, we've spent $3.7 million to date,” Carl said.
He denies he and a developer duped Amazon in exchange for bribes.
To defend their innocence, the couple sat down with 10TV for their first TV interview.
10TV Reporter Kevin Landers: “You described this case as being hunted. What do you mean by that?
Amy Nelson: "From the day the FBI showed up at our door on April 2, 2020, it was clear that they believed my husband committed a crime, and they, in partnership with Amazon, would do what they could to get him to admit that he had done. They wanted to make sure we didn't have a dime to our names, because how can you defend yourself if you can't feed your kids.”
In a statement to 10TV, an Amazon spokesperson said:
“They essentially charged my money with a crime. They didn't even charge it, they sued it, they sued my money,” Carl said.
Nearly $900,000 of his and his wife’s money even though Amy was never the subject of the investigation. The government did so because of the commingling of accounts.
“I would say that was pretty terrifying, that made it real,” Carl said.
Civil asset forfeiture is a legal process that allows law enforcement to seize property from people suspected of involvement in crime or illegal activity, even if they haven't been charged or convicted. The property can include cash, cars, or real estate. The government doesn't need to charge the property owner with a specific crime, but they must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the property is legally forfeitable.
Landers: “Do you believe the federal government weaponized the civil asset forfeiture law to get you to plead to something you were innocent?"
Carl Nelson: “Absolutely.”
To fight for their survival they needed cash quickly.
They sold their car, their home in Seattle and would eventually move to Columbus where Amy’s parents live.
Federal prosecutors dropped the case in 2022 after a judge found Amazon failed to prove it suffered damages among other things.
An Amazon spokesperson said, “The government… unfortunately decided to give the perpetrators of the scheme a free pass without explaining to the victims or court why it is doing so. That decision is disappointing. The monetary harm suffered by Amazon in connection with the bribery scheme is significant. But, even more importantly, this case raises issues of deterrence that will directly impact the victims and other companies. Companies that operate in this District have good reason be concerned about the message the government’s decision sends to those who might scheme to defraud through bribery and kickbacks: that they may profit from their crimes, and the government may be willing to walk away from the prosecution of perpetrators of commercial bribery after obtaining admissions to these crimes under oath in open court.”
A federal judge ruled that any activity Amazon claimed to have occurred was authorized by Amazon's contract.
The Nelsons asked the court to return their money, but they say prosecutors approached them with a deal to get their seized money back.
“We agreed to settle for 85% of the money and a promise not to sue them under civil forfeiture,” Amy said.
Their case is not unique.
Attorney Dan Albans of the Institute for Justice in Virginia has sued the government over civil asset forfeiture and won.
“Civil forfeiture flips the presumption of innocence on its head, it assumes people are guilty before being convicted of a crime,” he said.
Civil asset forfeiture is happening across the country, including at John Glenn International Airport.
Kermit Warren was flying through Columbus on his way home to New Orleans.
He was carrying his life savings --$28,000 -- to buy a truck.
Domestically you can legally travel with any amount of money, but the DEA seized the cash claiming it was connected to drug activity.
“He was a black man traveling with cash they thought was inappropriate, and based on that a black man going through an airport with cash, they seized his property as if it was part of illegal activity,” he said.
Warren sued the government to get his money back and won.
As for the Nelsons, the couple is now 4 years into their legal fight as Amazon has appealed the case. They hope by speaking about it they will put pressure on lawmakers to reform the legal system so what happens to them doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“The truth is the truth. I did everything my contract says I can do, and a federal judge agreed with that. We just had to spend millions of dollars to prove it,” Carl said.