A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to defrauding Amazon out of more than $3.5 million.
Ameer Nasir, 25, of Trumbull took a plea deal on Friday in federal court in Bridgeport where he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to pay restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
According to federal officials, Nasir allegedly defrauded Amazon Logistics, an Amazon subsidiary, by registering 23 trucking businesses with the company and misrepresenting that he had completed numerous transportation assignments.
Amazon frequently contracts with various interstate trucking businesses to transport both empty trailers and trailers containing heavy loads of freight between cities as well as between warehouses and fulfillment centers, authorities said. Of the nearly two dozen businesses Nasir registered, one was reportedly done in the name of his business, Pak Express Transport, LLC. The others, authorities said, were created fraudulently using the names and identifying information of other trucking or transportation companies without their knowledge.
Between December 2019 and February 2021, Nasir used these accounts to sign up for more than 1,000 transportation assignments with Amazon Logistics, officials said. Authorities said he manipulated information in Amazon’s transportation management system to misrepresent that he had completed trailer movements when he had not, and submitted fraudulent invoices to Amazon Logistics that were paid out. Federal officials said that he defrauded the company out of more than $3.5 million through the scheme.
Nasir is free on a $300,000 bond pending sentencing, when he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Part of the plea deal he took includes paying more than $3.5 million in restitution, officials said.