Amazon’s fraud case against Denver developer Brian Watson moves forward after appeal

An appeals court has reinstated a host of civil alleges against Denver developer Brian Watson overturning a lower-court ruling that had been favorable to him The decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals means Watson the owner and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners again must defend himself from maintains made by Seattle-based Amazon that he committed fraud and racketeering in connection with the rise of input centers for the tech giant in northern Virginia The appeals court determined that genuine disputes of material fact remain on those maintains The decision means a court battle that began in April and which once featured a parallel criminal examination that federal prosecutors abandoned in remarkable fashion will continue It s a disappointment I don t know that it s a surprise commented Stan Garnett Watson s attorney Regardless our job will be to get it to trial as hastily as feasible and win it for Brian he added The situation revolves around millions of dollars that Watson s firm paid to a trust money which was later shared with Carl Nelson and Casey Kirschner two employees that worked on real estate for Amazon The two men are also defendants in the affair Amazon has described those payments as kickbacks paid for Nelson and Kirschner steering contracts to Amazon Watson has declared payments to the trust set up by Casey s brother Christian were legitimate referral fees that compensated Christian for introducing Watson to Amazon and helping Northstar land business Watson did not direct or intend for a portion of those fees to be passed on to Casey Kirschner or Carl Nelson he has stated Watson has denied knowing that the men were given money by the trust which was set up by Casey Kirschner s brother Christian a longtime friend of Watson Watson says he paid the trust referral fees he owed Christian for introducing him to Amazon and landing work Nelson and Kirschner have argued that Watson landed contracts through a competitive process that they did not make the final call on Amazon s real estate decisions and that getting money from the trust did not violate their Amazon employment contract The appeals court decision this week means Amazon s lawsuit will proceed in federal district court in Virginia where a judge s April decision allowed only two of Amazon s alleges against Watson to proceed The occurrence has been on pause for approximately two years amid the appeal The appeals court also reopened Amazon s one claim against Rod Atherton a local attorney who helped create the shell companies that the payments were funneled through In the interim Watson has been going on the offensive In September he sued a former Northstar employee whose email to founder Jeff Bezos initiated Amazon s probe In October he sued IPI Partners a firm that helped finance the figures center deals And last December he sued Amazon itself in federal court in Colorado In a declaration Alex Little an attorney for Nelson called the appeals court decision disappointing He noted that the lower court s ruling was followed in short order by the Justice Department vacating guilty pleas it had secured in a related criminal inquiry from Christian Kirschner and former Northstar executive Kyle Ramstetter Related Articles Palantir plans to move office from downtown Denver to Cherry Creek Cherry Hills Village mansion sells for M tops August Denver home sales Redtail Overland evolves from rooftop tents to luxury k Skyloft Vans built in Boulder Special Resorts makes M bid for Inspirato both founded by Denver s Handler brothers Federal appeals court allows Vail to ban UPS FedEx trucks from pedestrian malls Amazon had repeatedly trumpeted that criminal assessment to backing its baseless civil incident Little reported Last year Ramstetter explained Nelson s wife Amy in a recorded phone call that he was being threatened with f ing everything during the review Ramstetter stated Nelson did nothing wrong reversing what he d described the court We will petition for an evidentiary hearing so these matters can be investigated One man against a trillion-dollar corporation is daunting but Mr Nelson has stood his ground for years and we are confident the truth will prevail Little announced Tuesday Amazon spokeswoman Montana MacLachlan noted the company was pleased with the decision and looks forward to the opportunity to present the extensive evidence of the defendants misconduct Read more from our partner BusinessDen