In an extraordinary moment, 4 living presidents - Democrats & Republicans - confirm that @DOJCrimDiv can be & has been weaponized.

If presidents say this OUT LOUD, we must demand reform NOW.

First, @joebiden: DOJ selectively prosecutes. (Duh.)

/1bit.ly/4gH10nF Here is @BillClinton confirming the same. He says @JoeBiden has reason to believe that Hunter was unfairly prosecuted because he is the president's son. /2

nytimes.com/video/business…

When I went to law school, I knew a law degree would be helpful no matter what I chose to do in life.

Never did I imagine that I would use my skills & training to "prove" my husband's innocence to federal prosecutors after @jeffbezos & @amazon tried to imprison him. A 🧵 /1 My husband worked at @awscloud. His offer letter said it contained ALL the terms of his employment. ALL OF THEM. You can see it here. Here are pages 1 & 2. /2

The @FTC’s ban on non-competes is so important.

Why? @ajassy & @aselipsky spent years trying to secure criminal charges against my husband for violating his non compete. We prevailed - but spent $3.6 million to “win.”

Amazon has gone after so many men. Take a look. A 🧵/1 They sued Christopher Zyda when he went to EBay. /2

Today is the 4 year anniversary of my life exploding into a billion little pieces

Today, I want you to imagine you are my husband & read his story

Maybe it's the truth; maybe every single piece can be backed up.

Maybe it's the story that changes everything

A thread 🧵/1

https://twitter.com/Amy_K_Nelson/status/1559550871037411334

Imagine that you work at a Very Big Tech Company in real estate development, helping to find, secure and develop properties for data centers - that is, big buildings where the internet lives. You do well - but you start young and you top out at a Level 7, which is a manager but not an officer or director. You aren’t an approver of deals. No, even in your most senior role eight people in various divisions of Very Big Tech Company senior to you make those decisions.

Imagine that the CEO of Very Big Tech Company is an entrepreneurial guy with his hands in many businesses. When he starts his company in the 90s, he comes up with a 10-page employment contract that in very plain terms over numerous pages details all of the various types of outside work you can do while you work at Very Big Tech Company. You can start your own company and seek investment, so long as the investor is not an investor in Very Big Tech Company. You can consult with businesses and people doing business with Very Big Tech Company - while you work at Big Tech Company - so long as your arrangement with them is not “substantially similar” to Very Big Tech Company’s “arrangement” with the outsider.

/2

Today - 4 years after @amazon launched a $100 million legal war against my family - 4 documents related to DOJ's seizure of my family's bank accounts are meant to be unsealed.

As of right now, they remain sealed.

An update and why this matters. /1

kiro7.com/news/local/i-f… In 2022, DOJ returned the seized $.

The $ was seized based on Amazon's allegations that my husband had deprived it of his "honest services."

Even though the $ was returned, DOJ asked to seal docs related to the seizure. /2

bit.ly/3VLYR2N

I FOUND AN UNSEALED AFFIDAVIT, used to obtain a warrant to search my home.

Amazon lied to the @FBI a/b it's employment duties, so the FBI could seek a probable cause warrant for honest services fraud - which requires a breach of employment duties.

Amazon LIED.

My god 🧵/1 The affidavit is long & full of alleged facts - mostly about $ and where it moved.

But $ moving isn't a crime. There had to be (a) a breach of employment duties by my husband and (b) a kickback. A kickback alone doesn't get you probable cause - statute requires (a), too. /2

This email was sent to @amazon General Counsel @DavidZapolsky in September 2020.

3 years & tens of millions burned on @gibsondunn lawyers by Amazon, a federal judge ruled that I was right & my husband acted per the terms of his Amazon contract.

This is a real problem.

I emailed @jeffbezos & CEO @ajassy multiple times.

Their lawyers publicly called me a conspiracy theorist and threatened to accuse me of a crime just for speaking out.

The DOJ vacated 2 guilty pleas obtained with these falsehoods.

Who answers for this?

BOMBSHELL.

@JeffBezos control over DOJ.

DOJ told my husband to plead guilty to @amazon fraud claim or they’d prove at trial he caused Amazon to overpay for land by $25 million+. Email ⬇️

Husband refused.

In 2023, judge ruled no fraud & no proof of one 💵of overpayment. /1 DOJ never indicted although my husband refused to plead and lie.

But if he had plead - neither DOJ or Amazon would have had to PROVE anything. You just agree to a statement of facts and that’s that.

And 98% of Americans accused of federal crimes plea. Amazon knows that. /2

SCANDAL: @JeffBezos

Amazon: it's a "conspiracy theory." We didn't lobby DOJ for criminal charges. (See below.)

Evidence: You met with prosecutors over 100x & gave "pitch presentations" for charges. You *asked* for civil forfeiture.

Here is WHY they've hunted my family. /1 This is all over a bad business decision that could cost @amazon hundreds of millions.

IPI (partly owned by Iconiq, see article) - partnered with a developer (Northstar) to build data centers.

Amazon agreed to lease the data centers. /2

forbes.com/sites/briansol…

This is an American scandal - with @jeffbezos and @amazon CEO @ajassy at the center of a horrifying scheme.

Here is a small part of our story: Amazon using civil forfeiture to leave my babies penniless and then suing my husband in civil court knowing he had no money.

It gets worse.

/1 Amazon asked DOJ to seize my husband’s $$. DOJ obliged.

When that was done and Amazon knew my husband had no money in any bank account - and 4 daughters under the age of 6 - Amazon sued my husband in the same district where they were working with prosecutors. /2

EXPLOSIVE:

When @amazon's lawyers targeted my husband, their lawyer - a former federal prosecutor - emailed his former colleagues & said Amazon would talk to DOJ about "asset restraint/recovery."

DOJ then seized $7M from Amazon's targets based on Amazon's allegations. /1 (These docs are all on the public docket in Amazon's civil case against my husband, where a federal judge ruled in April that my husband - even if he did exactly what Amazon said he did - acted in accordance with the "explicit terms" of AMAZON's contract.) /2

BIG UPDATE. Amazon asked DOJ to seize assets after it alleged it'd been defrauded of $50M. DOJ seized - per @SeamusHughes - $7M from Amazon's targets.

Three years later - after judge in Amazon's related civil case found no harm & no fraud - DOJ has returned all but $200,000. /1 Amazon & its biz partner IPI had a massive incentive to secure federal felony charges: They'd broken a contract with their main target, a real estate developer, and unless they could prove he'd committed a felony, they'd owe him nine figures. Delaware Court of Chancery agreed: /2

Looks like @DavidZapolsky, @yousriomar & @amazon have finally copped to lies.

For years, they claimed my husband & others defrauded Amazon of "tens of millions."

A court filing reveals - though redactions - that Amazon's OWN expert says there were...ZERO DOLLARS in damage. Look at what Amazon said in April 2020 - in a secret complaint unsealed for prosecutors on an emergency basis so Amazon could get DOJ to seize funds: Damage of at least 50 MILLION.

Hey @davidzapolsky:

Amazon & IPI broke a contract. Amazon didn't gain a $. IPI? Pocketed $100M. IPI could've broken contract alone. Says Amazon "made" them. Now IPI & Amazon face $100M fine.

Gibson Dunn rep'd IPI & Amazon. Gibson told Amazon to breach. Is that a conflict? /1 Fully story. IPI was just a $$ provider - didn't have real estate expertise. But it WANTED to work with Amazon on data centers. So it bought a developer, STACK, in 2019! But couldn't get any traction with Amazon. /2 datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ipi-la…

I can prove America is an oligarchy.

@JeffBezos *admits* to stealing $60 million in driver tips. Builds $500 million yacht & flies to moon.

@JeffBezos *accuses* employee of not giving @amazon "honest services," @TheJusticeDept seizes his $ & raids home. No charges filed. /1 In an oligarchy, rulers are selected from a small class of elites & exercise power on behalf of their class rather than for the greater good. Look at how the billionaires OWNED the elections. In 2010, they spent $80M on elections. This year? Nearly $1B. bit.ly/3A9grSK /2

It’s been 871 days. I’m going to start trying to fight Amazon & what they’ve done in every way I can. No company should be able to drag a family through a terrifying, multi-$ legal fight - in violation of state law. No one. I’m just getting started.

https://twitter.com/Amy_K_Nelson/status/1560953138823184384

I don’t mean this flippantly. Or joyfully. But for 871 days, lawyers at Gibson Dunn - Pat Stokes, Liz Papez and Lora MacDonald - have shot a gun loaded with Amazon’s millions at my family every day. /2

In 2019, Washington passed a law requiring Washington employers to sue Washington employees in Washington. Amazon sued my husband in Virginia, illegally. I've tried for YEARS to get @AGOWA to enforce the law. Does @JeffBezos get a pass as a donor? 🧵 /1 bit.ly/3AAXWao Amazon is well aware of the law. They shaped it. State wanted to ban non-competes altogether for employees making under 180K - which would have been ALL Amazon employees (salary cap of 160K). They lobbied hard to change it to 100K and WON! Of course. seattletimes.com/seattle-news/n… /2

When Amazon had DOJ seize our $, we couldn't help my dad pay for medicine he needed to survive after a kidney transplant. I'll never forget the panic. I thought he was going to die. My mom - his ex-wife - stepped up to cover $10,000. I've never shared this part. /1 The fact that @DavidZapolsky & @yousriomar & @KMSheepeople had @gibsondunn's Pat Stokes ask his former colleagues to do this to my family w/out asking my husband a single question is something I'll never understand. Why DOJ did it, I'll also never understand. /2

Amazon's case is finally headed to trial, despite its delay tactics. My hope is we get to the bottom of what role Amazon's failed $10B JEDI bid played in all of this. A goldrush for land to build on, b/c they thought they had the contract. /1 theintercept.com/2019/06/03/ama… Amazon was hiring RIGHT out of Defense, FTC, US Attorneys offices. If we hire them, they're our friends. If they ARE us, they won't regulate us. They'll give us contracts & the come work for us & everyone makes $$. /2 politico.com/news/2021/12/2…

Me via @Entrepreneur: "The FBI had shown up at her home with guns, informed her husband that he was the target of a federal criminal investigation, and seized all their savings. Ever since then, she'd been trying to pull her life out of a death spiral." bit.ly/3w8bvex /1 Years ago, journalist @LizOBrody and I connected as she wrote a piece a/b my investor & friend @MandelaSH. Liz asked me how @theriveterco was going and I was like, well, not great, but I am TRYING. /2

835 days ago, @amazon sent the FBI to accuse my husband of employment fraud. 788 days ago, prosecutors seized all of our $. 770 days ago, the FBI searched our home. Years later, we've never even seen the accusations. No charges ever filed. So many stories of Amazon's power. 🧵

https://twitter.com/billybinion/status/1494792368695951364

This started in April 2020. We were silent for nearly a year, terrified of the guns. They hired a former prosecutor in Virginia, Pat Stokes, to lobby his former colleagues. Pat was able to request civil forfeiture. Then this article came out in Feb '21 geekwire.com/2021/former-aw…