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Closing a Federal Investigation Without Charges
Closing a Federal Investigation Without Charges
How Litson Attorneys Guided a Family Through a Federal Investigation Spurred by Amazon
Carl Nelson managed data center real estate deals for Amazon Web Services in Northern Virginia. After Amazon accused him of taking kickbacks from a developer, it alerted the FBI. On April 2, 2020, agents raided his family’s home and the government seized more than $630,000 of the family’s savings. Amazon sued him 3 weeks later. No one had charged him with a crime.
The civil case and the criminal investigation ran side by side, and each fed the other. Litson attorneys built a defense that kept the 2 fronts aligned: pressing the government to justify a seizure it had made without any charge, and handling the civil case with the investigation in mind.
In February 2022, the government agreed to return $525,000 of the seized savings, with no admission of wrongdoing. In January 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia told the court it had declined to prosecute him. Carl Nelson was never charged.
Key Facts
0 criminal charges: In January 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the court it had declined to prosecute him. Carl Nelson was never charged.
$525,000 returned: The government agreed to return the family’s seized savings under a February 2022 consent judgment.
No admission of wrongdoing: The forfeiture settlement states on its face that it is not an admission of any unlawful activity.
The Raid
On April 2, 2020, FBI agents arrived at the Nelson family’s home in Seattle. Carl Nelson had left Amazon Web Services nearly a year earlier. Amazon accused him and another real estate manager of steering data center deals in Loudoun and Prince William Counties to a developer in exchange for kickbacks, and it took those allegations to federal law enforcement.
The government seized more than $630,000 from the family’s accounts. It did not charge him. On April 27, 2020, Amazon sued him, the other manager, and the developer in federal court in Virginia.
Two Fronts
A civil suit from a company the size of Amazon is expensive on its own. Running alongside a criminal investigation, it becomes something else: every filing, deposition, and statement in one case can be used in the other. The defense had to answer Amazon in court while a federal investigation ran in the background.
The strategy rested on 2 points. The government had seized the family’s savings without charging anyone in the family, and it would have to justify that. And every statement in the civil case had to be made with the investigation in mind.
The Criminal Side Closes
On February 17, 2022, the court entered a stipulated consent judgment in the forfeiture case. The government returned $525,000 of the family’s savings. The judgment states that the settlement is not an admission of any unlawful activity.
In January 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia told the court it had declined to prosecute him. Nearly 4 years after the raid, Carl Nelson had never been charged.
- An FBI raid and a $630,000 seizure ended with no charges against him.
- Most of the seized savings came back to the family.
- A federal investigation spurred by Amazon ended with the U.S. Attorney’s Office declining to prosecute.
What This Outcome Means
A corporate accusation can put a family in front of the FBI before any court has looked at the evidence. The raid, the seizure, and the threat of indictment all arrived first. Keeping the investigation from ever becoming a criminal case, and getting the money back, took nearly 4 years of work on both fronts at once.
The Litson Team
Litson attorney Alex Little advised Carl and Amy Nelson from April 2020 until the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute in January 2024.
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