内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-ends-its-six-year-legal-fight-with-former-aws-managers-over-alleged-data-center-kickbacks/

内容总结：

亚马逊两名前房地产经理承认，他们在为公司处理数据中心交易期间收受了与交易相关的个人款项。这一认可是在一起和解协议中作出的，该协议解决了亚马逊对他们提起的长达六年的诉讼。

根据双方作为和解协议一部分达成的联合声明，卡尔·纳尔逊和凯西·柯施纳表示“对自己的行为感到后悔，为未能达到亚马逊的高道德标准而道歉，并对这件事得到解决感到欣慰”。

声明称，这些款项“违反了亚马逊的行为准则与道德规范，破坏了亚马逊对员工的信任，并使亚马逊在其所服务社区中的声誉面临风险”。该声明由亚马逊于周五晚间应GeekWire的问询提供。

声明并未将这些款项称为回扣，也未称其违法。纳尔逊曾受到联邦调查局调查，但从未被起诉。一名联邦法官在2023年裁定，亚马逊的行为准则不构成具有法律约束力的合同。和解协议的其他条款保密，包括是否涉及金钱往来。

在和解之前，纳尔逊一直坚称自己遵守了亚马逊雇佣协议的条款。他的律师称，该协议赋予他从事外部商业活动的广泛空间。

为两人设立商业实体的科罗拉多州律师罗德尼·阿瑟顿也已达成和解，并在声明中表示“对他在本案所涉行为中扮演的角色感到后悔”。

这一和解结束了纳尔逊一家漫长的法律磨难。他的妻子艾米·纳尔逊是西雅图前企业家，创办了女性联合办公空间网络The Riveter，一直是他最坚定的支持者，多年来在社交媒体和采访中为他辩护，并批评亚马逊和司法部对他追诉。

“我丈夫与前雇主之间的所有纠纷都已解决，”她在周五发布于社交媒体的一段短视频中说。

此案打乱了这家人的生活。联邦调查局于2020年从纳尔逊夫妇的银行账户中扣押了892135美元，其中包括艾米·纳尔逊担任The Riveter首席执行官期间赚取的数十万美元。

政府已在2022年的一项和解中归还了大部分款项。到那时，纳尔逊夫妇已卖掉他们在西雅图的住宅，并清空退休账户以支付律师费，还带着四个女儿先后搬到夏威夷和俄亥俄州，也就是艾米父母居住的地方。她2023年告诉KIRO 7，这家人已在法律费用上花费超过300万美元。

“过去四年里我们失去的很多东西，永远都拿不回来了。我们永远拿不回我们的房子，永远拿不回我们的工作，永远拿不回我们的声誉，”她在2024年告诉《西雅图时报》。当时联邦检察官已采取行动撤销相关刑事案件。

根据法庭文件，亚马逊于10月20日告知法官已达成和解，距离案件在弗吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚联邦地区法院开庭审理不到两周。

针对其余被告布赖恩·沃森及其总部位于丹佛的房地产公司Northstar Commercial Partners的案件仍在继续。亚马逊在2018年至2020年间聘请该公司在北弗吉尼亚州开发九个数据中心项目。亚马逊指控Northstar通过向纳尔逊和柯施纳支付回扣赢得这些业务，沃森对此予以否认。

沃森和Northstar将于11月2日受审。他们在周五提交的一份文件中请求法官要求亚马逊交出和解协议，以便查看其条款。

这一和解之前，多年来的裁决各有胜负。2023年4月，一名联邦法官驳回了亚马逊的大部分诉讼请求，包括对纳尔逊和柯施纳的违约请求。2025年9月，一家联邦上诉法院恢复了包括敲诈勒索和欺诈在内的多项请求，并将案件发回重审。

2024年1月，联邦检察官采取行动撤销了另两名涉案男子的认罪，分别是柯施纳的兄弟克里斯蒂安·柯施纳和前Northstar客户经理凯尔·拉姆斯特特，称起诉“不符合司法公正的最佳利益”。

检察官还补充说，他们已决定不起诉其他被指为共谋者的人，包括纳尔逊。

中文翻译：

两名前亚马逊房地产经理承认，他们在为公司处理数据中心交易期间收受了与该交易相关的个人款项。此事的和解协议解决了公司在为期六年的诉讼中对他们提出的索赔。

根据双方作为和解协议一部分同意的联合声明，卡尔·纳尔逊和凯西·柯什纳“对自己的行为感到后悔，为未能达到亚马逊的高道德标准而道歉，并对此事得以解决感到欣慰”。

声明称，这些款项“违反了亚马逊的行为准则与道德规范，破坏了亚马逊对其员工的信任，并使亚马逊在其所服务社区中的声誉面临风险”。该声明由亚马逊于周五晚间应GeekWire的询问提供。

声明并未将这些款项称为回扣，也未称其违法。纳尔逊曾受到FBI调查，但从未被起诉，且一名联邦法官在2023年裁定，亚马逊的行为准则不构成具有法律约束力的合同。和解协议的其他条款保密，包括是否涉及金钱往来。

在和解之前，纳尔逊一直坚称自己遵守了亚马逊雇佣协议的条款，其律师表示该协议赋予他从事外部业务的广泛自由。

据声明称，为两人设立商业实体的科罗拉多州律师罗德尼·阿瑟顿也已达成和解，并“对他在本案所涉行为中扮演的角色感到后悔”。

该和解结束了纳尔逊一家漫长的法律磨难。他的妻子艾米·纳尔逊是西雅图前企业家，创办了女性联合办公空间网络The Riveter，一直是他最坚定的发声支持者，多年来在社交媒体和采访中为他辩护，并批评亚马逊和司法部对他的追诉。

“我丈夫与前雇主之间的所有纠纷都已解决，”她在周五发布于社交媒体的一段短视频中说。

此案颠覆了这个家庭的生活。2020年，FBI从纳尔逊夫妇的银行账户中查扣了892，135美元，其中包括艾米·纳尔逊作为The Riveter首席执行官所赚取的数十万美元。

政府已在2022年的和解中归还了大部分款项。彼时，纳尔逊夫妇已卖掉他们在西雅图的住宅，清空退休账户以支付律师费，并带着四个女儿先搬到夏威夷，后又搬到艾米父母居住的俄亥俄州。她2023年告诉KIRO 7，这个家庭已在法律费用上花费超过300万美元。

“过去四年里我们失去的许多东西，永远都无法挽回。我们永远无法找回我们的家。我们永远无法找回我们的工作。我们永远无法挽回我们的声誉，”她在2024年告诉《西雅图时报》，当时联邦检察官已申请撤销相关的刑事案件。

据法庭文件显示，亚马逊于10月20日告知法官已达成和解，距离案件在弗吉尼亚州亚历山大市联邦地区法院开庭审理不到两周。

案件对剩余被告布莱恩·沃森及其总部位于丹佛的房地产公司Northstar Commercial Partners仍在继续。亚马逊于2018年至2020年间聘请该公司在北弗吉尼亚州开发九个数据中心项目。亚马逊指控Northstar通过向纳尔逊和柯什纳支付回扣赢得该业务，沃森对此予以否认。

沃森和Northstar将于11月2日接受审判。在周五的一份文件中，他们请求法官要求亚马逊交出和解协议，以便了解其条款。

此和解是在多年来双方各有胜负的裁决之后达成的。2023年4月，一名联邦法官驳回了亚马逊的大部分索赔，包括对纳尔逊和柯什纳的违约索赔。2025年9月，一家联邦上诉法院恢复了包括敲诈勒索和欺诈在内的多项索赔，并将案件发回重审。

2024年1月，联邦检察官申请撤销案中另外两名男子的认罪，即柯什纳的兄弟克里斯蒂安·柯什纳和前Northstar客户经理凯尔·拉姆斯特特，称起诉“不符合司法公正的最佳利益”。

检察官还补充说，他们已决定不对包括纳尔逊在内的其他被指共谋者提起诉讼。

英文来源：

Two former Amazon real estate managers acknowledged receiving personal payments tied to data center deals they handled for the company, under a settlement that resolves the company’s claims against them in a six-year lawsuit.
Carl Nelson and Casey Kirschner “regret their actions, apologize for failing to meet Amazon’s high ethical standards, and are glad this matter has been resolved,” according to a joint statement that the parties agreed to as part of the settlement.
The payments “violated Amazon’s Code of Conduct & Ethics, broke the trust Amazon places in its employees, and put Amazon’s reputation at risk in the communities it serves,” says the statement, which Amazon provided Friday evening in response to GeekWire’s inquiry.
The statement doesn’t call the payments kickbacks or say they were illegal. Nelson was investigated by the FBI but never charged, and a federal judge ruled in 2023 that Amazon’s Code of Conduct wasn’t a legally enforceable contract. The other terms of the settlement are confidential, including whether any money changed hands.
Before the settlement, Nelson had maintained that he abided by the terms of his Amazon employment agreement, which his attorneys said gave him broad leeway to do outside business.
Rodney Atherton, a Colorado attorney who set up business entities for the two men, also settled and “regrets the role he played in the conduct at issue in this case,” according to the statement.
The settlement closes a long legal ordeal for Nelson’s family. His wife, Amy Nelson, the former Seattle entrepreneur who founded The Riveter, a network of co-working spaces for women, has been his most outspoken advocate, defending him for years on social media and in interviews and criticizing Amazon and the Justice Department for pursuing him.
“All disputes with my husband’s former employer have been resolved,” she said in a short video posted Friday on social media.
The case upended the family’s life. The FBI seized $892,135 from the Nelsons’ bank accounts in 2020, including hundreds of thousands of dollars Amy Nelson earned as CEO of The Riveter.
The government returned most of it in a 2022 settlement. By then, the Nelsons had sold their West Seattle home and emptied their retirement accounts to pay lawyers, and they had moved with their four daughters to Hawaii and then Ohio, where Amy’s parents live. The family had spent more than $3 million on legal fees, she told KIRO 7 in 2023.
“Many of the things that we lost over the past four years, we can never get back. We can never get our home back. We can never get our jobs back. We can never get our reputation back,” she told The Seattle Times in 2024, after federal prosecutors moved to drop the related criminal cases.
Amazon told the judge on Oct. 20 that it had reached the settlement, less than two weeks before the case was set to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., according to court filings.
The case continues against the remaining defendants, Brian Watson and his Denver-based real estate firm, Northstar Commercial Partners, which Amazon hired for nine data center development projects in Northern Virginia between 2018 and 2020. Amazon alleges that Northstar won that business by paying kickbacks to Nelson and Kirschner, which Watson denies.
Watson and Northstar are headed to trial Nov. 2. In a filing Friday, they asked the judge to make Amazon hand over the settlement agreement so they can see its terms.
The settlement follows years of rulings that went both ways. In April 2023, a federal judge dismissed most of Amazon’s claims, including its breach of contract claims against Nelson and Kirschner. In September 2025, a federal appeals court revived several of the claims, including racketeering and fraud, and sent the case back for trial.
In January 2024, federal prosecutors moved to vacate the guilty pleas of two other men in the case, Kirschner’s brother, Christian Kirschner, and former Northstar account manager Kyle Ramstetter, calling prosecution “not in the best interests of justice.”
Prosecutors added that they had declined to prosecute the other alleged co-conspirators, including Nelson.