Brian Watson is the CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners, which is based in Denver. Amazon has sued Watson and two others, claiming they were involved in a kickback scheme regarding development deals for data centers in Virginia. (BusinessDen file)
Amazon is seeking to add a local attorney as a defendant to its two-year-old lawsuit against a Denver-based real estate firm over an alleged kickback scheme involving development deals in northern Virginia.
Seattle-based Amazon asked a judge earlier this month for permission to file a third amended version of its lawsuit against Northstar Commercial Partners, Northstar owner and CEO Brian Watson and ex-Amazon employees Casey Kirschner and Carl Nelson. The company’s original lawsuit was filed in April 2020.
Amazon has alleged from the start that Nelson and Kirschner steered the Amazon Web Services data center development deals to Watson in exchange for millions of dollars. The company said it first learned of the alleged scheme when a Northstar employee emailed Jeff Bezos. The FBI has also investigated the matter, but no charges have been filed.
In the proposed amended lawsuit, the company seeks to add several new defendants, most notably Arvada attorney Rodney Atherton, who Amazon says created trusts and limited liability companies that were used to conceal kickbacks paid by Watson to Kirschner and Nelson.
Amazon also seeks to drop some of its claims against Watson as part of the latest update, in part due to a settlement with Northstar’s partner in the development deals. The proposed amended lawsuit — which the defendants can object to, and which a judge will have to decide to admit — runs for 115 pages, not counting exhibits.
Attorney Atherton previously suspended from practicing law
Amazon had previously mentioned Atherton in court documents back in 2020, but the company says records produced during the case’s discovery process, which kicked off earlier this year, have prompted the request to add him as a defendant.
Rodney Atherton
“Discovery has greatly expanded Amazon’s understanding of Atherton’s role and has demonstrated that he was a knowing and active co-conspirator,” Amazon said in an April 2 filing.
Atherton and an attorney representing him did not respond to requests for comment.
Atherton has practiced under the name Ergo Law, although his LinkedIn profile now says he is with Aegis Law. He was suspended from practicing law in Colorado for several months starting in late 2013 after admitting to professional misconduct.
Amazon alleges in the latest proposed version of its lawsuit that Atherton formed multiple shell entities that were used to funnel and conceal the kickbacks paid by Watson to Nelson and Kirschner, including Allcore Development LLC. The company also alleges that Atherton recruited a “straw man” named Demetrius Von Lacy “to act as a front for certain of the shell entities.”
As justification for naming Atherton a defendant, Amazon in part cites a signed statement from ex-Amazon employee Kirschner, who has cooperated with an associated criminal investion, reading: “I accepted money from Northstar associated with deals I worked on with Amazon. Carl Nelson and I formed Allcore through Rod Atherton.”
The status of the associated criminal investigation remains unclear. In early April 2020, weeks before Amazon’s lawsuit was filed, the FBI served a warrant at Watson’s Cherry Hills Village mansion, which he sold last year for $8.5 million. The FBI also seized hundreds of thousands of dollars from Nelson and his wife Amy, although in February the agency agreed to return $525,000.
Nelson’s wife Amy worked as an attorney for years before leaving in 2017 to found The Riveter, a women-centric coworking company that briefly had a Denver location before shifting its business model following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Amazon said in court documents that it subpoenaed Atherton in connection with its lawsuit this past December, and again in March. Atherton subsequently filed motions seeking to partially or fully quash both subpoenas, saying the information sought is protected by attorney-client privilege, court records show.
Amazon said in response that Atherton’s clients Nelson and Kirschner waived their privilege when the company told the men it planned to file a motion arguing the communications are not protected by privilege because of the crime-fraud exception.
Other defendants that Amazon seeks to add in the lawsuit update are Von Lacy and Renrets LLC, an entity that Amazon says was organized by Carl Nelson’s father-in-law James Sterner, a former attorney who was disbarred in 1996, according to Ohio Supreme Court records.
Settlement reached with ex-Northstar partner
In its proposed update, Amazon also seeks to drop some of its claims, in part because it has reached a settlement with the firm that financed Northstar’s deals in Virginia.
The company said it now no longer needs to accuse Watson and his company of breach of contract because the settlement with IPI Partners, an investment firm that caters to Silicon Valley elite, has mitigated the company’s damages.
Watson sued IPI in late 2020 alleging breach of contract, and is now asking the judge overseeing the Amazon lawsuit to give up additional documents in response to a subpoena, court records show.
Amazon also said it wants to drop its claim under the Robinson-Patman Act, among other things.
The company continues to accuse Watson and his company of fraud, civil conspiracy, unjustment enrichment and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) through wire fraud and money laundering, among other things.
Brian Watson is the CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners, which is based in Denver. Amazon has sued Watson and two others, claiming they were involved in a kickback scheme regarding development deals for data centers in Virginia. (BusinessDen file)
Amazon is seeking to add a local attorney as a defendant to its two-year-old lawsuit against a Denver-based real estate firm over an alleged kickback scheme involving development deals in northern Virginia.
Seattle-based Amazon asked a judge earlier this month for permission to file a third amended version of its lawsuit against Northstar Commercial Partners, Northstar owner and CEO Brian Watson and ex-Amazon employees Casey Kirschner and Carl Nelson. The company’s original lawsuit was filed in April 2020.
Amazon has alleged from the start that Nelson and Kirschner steered the Amazon Web Services data center development deals to Watson in exchange for millions of dollars. The company said it first learned of the alleged scheme when a Northstar employee emailed Jeff Bezos. The FBI has also investigated the matter, but no charges have been filed.
In the proposed amended lawsuit, the company seeks to add several new defendants, most notably Arvada attorney Rodney Atherton, who Amazon says created trusts and limited liability companies that were used to conceal kickbacks paid by Watson to Kirschner and Nelson.
Amazon also seeks to drop some of its claims against Watson as part of the latest update, in part due to a settlement with Northstar’s partner in the development deals. The proposed amended lawsuit — which the defendants can object to, and which a judge will have to decide to admit — runs for 115 pages, not counting exhibits.
Attorney Atherton previously suspended from practicing law
Amazon had previously mentioned Atherton in court documents back in 2020, but the company says records produced during the case’s discovery process, which kicked off earlier this year, have prompted the request to add him as a defendant.
Rodney Atherton
“Discovery has greatly expanded Amazon’s understanding of Atherton’s role and has demonstrated that he was a knowing and active co-conspirator,” Amazon said in an April 2 filing.
Atherton and an attorney representing him did not respond to requests for comment.
Atherton has practiced under the name Ergo Law, although his LinkedIn profile now says he is with Aegis Law. He was suspended from practicing law in Colorado for several months starting in late 2013 after admitting to professional misconduct.
Amazon alleges in the latest proposed version of its lawsuit that Atherton formed multiple shell entities that were used to funnel and conceal the kickbacks paid by Watson to Nelson and Kirschner, including Allcore Development LLC. The company also alleges that Atherton recruited a “straw man” named Demetrius Von Lacy “to act as a front for certain of the shell entities.”
As justification for naming Atherton a defendant, Amazon in part cites a signed statement from ex-Amazon employee Kirschner, who has cooperated with an associated criminal investion, reading: “I accepted money from Northstar associated with deals I worked on with Amazon. Carl Nelson and I formed Allcore through Rod Atherton.”
The status of the associated criminal investigation remains unclear. In early April 2020, weeks before Amazon’s lawsuit was filed, the FBI served a warrant at Watson’s Cherry Hills Village mansion, which he sold last year for $8.5 million. The FBI also seized hundreds of thousands of dollars from Nelson and his wife Amy, although in February the agency agreed to return $525,000.
Nelson’s wife Amy worked as an attorney for years before leaving in 2017 to found The Riveter, a women-centric coworking company that briefly had a Denver location before shifting its business model following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Amazon said in court documents that it subpoenaed Atherton in connection with its lawsuit this past December, and again in March. Atherton subsequently filed motions seeking to partially or fully quash both subpoenas, saying the information sought is protected by attorney-client privilege, court records show.
Amazon said in response that Atherton’s clients Nelson and Kirschner waived their privilege when the company told the men it planned to file a motion arguing the communications are not protected by privilege because of the crime-fraud exception.
Other defendants that Amazon seeks to add in the lawsuit update are Von Lacy and Renrets LLC, an entity that Amazon says was organized by Carl Nelson’s father-in-law James Sterner, a former attorney who was disbarred in 1996, according to Ohio Supreme Court records.
Settlement reached with ex-Northstar partner
In its proposed update, Amazon also seeks to drop some of its claims, in part because it has reached a settlement with the firm that financed Northstar’s deals in Virginia.
The company said it now no longer needs to accuse Watson and his company of breach of contract because the settlement with IPI Partners, an investment firm that caters to Silicon Valley elite, has mitigated the company’s damages.
Watson sued IPI in late 2020 alleging breach of contract, and is now asking the judge overseeing the Amazon lawsuit to give up additional documents in response to a subpoena, court records show.
Amazon also said it wants to drop its claim under the Robinson-Patman Act, among other things.
The company continues to accuse Watson and his company of fraud, civil conspiracy, unjustment enrichment and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) through wire fraud and money laundering, among other things.
