The Nelsons Need Your Help

Today, we are asking for help. Two years ago, my husband's former employer (Amazon) launched a multimillion dollar campaign urging prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia to charge him with the crime of depriving the company of his "honest services." A few months after Amazon made its allegations, prosectors used a tool called "civil forfeiture" to seize the money we had paid our lawyers, our family and my husband's business bank accounts. My husband has never been charged with a crime, but civil forfeiture allows prosecutors to allege that money is a crime without charging a person. Two months later and after they found out the government had seized our money based on their allegations, Amazon sued my husband in civil court alleging that he alone somehow violated federal anti-trust laws among other things.

 

For the past two years, we've tried to survive as Amazon's lawyers - former federal prosecutors in Virginia - work to convince their former colleagues to charge Carl with a crime. We have sold our house in Seattle, sold our car, liquidated a retirement account, and borrowed money from family. We have moved our kids across four states, staying in my sister's basement, Carl's parents' condo building, my parents' townhouse and we are now living in rental home in Ohio.

 

We have tried so hard to do this without asking for help. But it's time. We would appreciate any amount you can give to help us with legal fees. Every dollar helps. 

 

It's important for me to note that both Carl and I are trying to work and earn money, and that we are not penniless. That said, the legal fees are crushing and I don't have anything else left to sell, so now it's simply what we can earn and hand to our attorneys. We are represented by a brilliant attorney, Alex Little, who I have known for 20 years. He is very mindful of costs and has worked very hard to keep fees as low as possible, while Amazon has multiple $1000 an hour attorneys at every juncture.

 

Thank you. Deeply. This has forever altered our lives but we promise to work for change when we are through this chapter. Specifically, we hope to lobby to abolish civil forfeiture and to change the rules around former DOJ officials ability to interact with their former offices when they leave the government for private practice.

 

If you wish, you can read more about Amazon's campaign in this WSJ story or this Bloomberg story .

 

Please note that your donations will go directly to our attorney, Alex Little at Burr & Forman, to pay for legal fees associated with his work on behalf of Carl.