BRIDGEPORT – A federal grand jury in New Haven has returned a 13-count indictment charging a Trumbull businessman with defrauding Amazon.com of $3 million, according to Marc Silverman, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Anish Shukla, acting special agent in charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI.
The indictment was returned against Ameer Nasir, 24, on May 7. Nasir was arrested May 8, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti in Bridgeport, and was released on a $300,000 bond.
As alleged in the indictment, Nasir registered 23 trucking businesses with Amazon Logistics, an Amazon subsidiary that contracts with various interstate trucking businesses to transport both empty trailers and trailers containing heavy loads of freight between cities and between warehouses and fulfillment centers operated by Amazon. One of the accounts was created in the name of Nasir’s business, Pak Express Transport LLC, and others were created fraudulently using the names and identifying information of other trucking or transportation companies without the knowledge of the operators of those companies.
Between approximately December 2019 and February 2021, Nasir used these accounts to sign up for more than 1,000 transportation assignments with Amazon Logistics, manipulated information in Amazon Logistics’ transportation management system to misrepresent that he had completed trailer movements when he had not, and submitted fraudulent invoices to Amazon Logistics that were subsequently paid. Through this scheme, Nasir defrauded Amazon of more than $3 million.
The indictment charges Nasir with 13 counts of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count.
Silverman stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from Amazon. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elena L. Coronado.
