Amazon settles legal battle against AWS managers accused of data center deal kickbacks

The long-running case will continue with Northstar Commercial Partners as defendant

Amazon has ended a six-year legal battle with two former AWS managers accused of taking kickbacks for certain data center deals.

Carl Nelson and Casey Kirschner, who were named in the 2020 lawsuit alongside Denver-based real estate firm Northstar Commercial Partners, said in a joint statement that they “regret their actions” and “apologize for failing to meet Amazon’s high ethical standards.”

They said that the payments broke Amazon’s code of conduct and put the company’s reputation at risk.

Nelson and Kirschner had been accused of engaging Northstar in nine different build-to-suit leasing projects for Amazon in Virginia worth hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for kickbacks delivered as “referral fees” through a trust owned by Kirschner’s brother, Christian Kirschner.

According to court documents, the fees were calculated as a percentage of the fees Northstar received on its Amazon leases. During Northstar’s business with Amazon, more than $5 million went to the trust.

The trust then transferred money to Christian Kirschner and other entities that funneled funds to Nelson and Casey Kirschner.

Amazon said that its costs in these transactions were inflated to fund the kickbacks, with Northstar CEO Brian Watson baking fees into project budgets and inflating Amazon’s rent.

In a TikTok video, Nelson’s wife, Amy Nelson, said all disputes between Nelson and Amazon had been resolved. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Over the years, the case saw several rulings both for and against Amazon. In 2023, a federal judge ruled that Amazon’s code of conduct wasn’t an enforceable contract, and dismissed most claims against Nelson and Kirschner.

But last year, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit revived several claims and sent the case back to trial.

The case against Northstar will continue, with a trial date of November 2.

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Comments

Yeah pretty scandalous of all the Plaintiffs, since they had this set up calculated and planned out since 2015 when the key players were all employed by Amazon. They left their to spread themselves out to better position themselves strategically and exactly where they are today I might add! They needed a fall guy to be charged of the fraud that they themselves are actually doing as we speak! Not only does it take heat off of them bc they now can say it was Brian Watson doing that not us, but they also received all of his assets along with the data center portfolio that NorthStar had developed and worked so hard for. Where did it go??? Well with Nitin Sathe to Blue Owl Capital, the same person who worked for IPI Partners and who set Brian Watson up. These 2 men, along with Nelsons wife Amy, who publicized this case to no avail claiming to be a victim of Amazons, was playing a role the entire time. Knowing that they were never going to see a court room again. How else were they going to make sure nothing went wrong? So by pretending to be defendants also both parties lawyers shared all communication. I realized this when I emailed Watson's legal team but then ended up getting a response email from Amy Stener herself. I thought she would jump at the evidence I shared with her, only because I really thought she was being framed by these same fraudsters. It wasnt until I read this article that I discovered that they are snakes. They knew what the plan was and that it was to royally screw Brian Watson. They had this in their playbook all along and were just really some evil terrible people. Lets see how this ends up playing out because I already have their playbook in my hands and I can predict their next plays so if anyone else wants to help find justice for Mr. Watson and put the real fraudsters on the stand then email me at [email protected]. If you are against these data centers this is a angle that for one justice and 2 an opportunity that they created themselves.

Author: admin