Rosie's guest this week is Amy Nelson.
In 2020, while the entire world suffered the catastrophe of Covid, the Nelson family was under an even bigger added attack. Amazon accused her husband of several unfounded crimes and felonies, and used the DOJ and FBI hoping to get him to plead guilty anyway. FBI agents knocking on their door with guns drawn; their bank accounts emptied by the DOJ; their employees subpoenaed; threats of family members also being arrested; and still to this day, not one single charge has been filed against him. Why? And what is Amazon's end game as this nightmare of injustice and exorbitant cost to the Nelson family still goes on? In an eye opening, absolutely alarming conversation, listen to Amy's utterly herculean effort to keep her family safe and whole, fighting against Amazon by sharing her story wherever it can be heard.
Hey, everybody, it is me Rosie O'donald Starr the Flintstones. How are you? You made it here to onward my podcast? How's it going by you in your life? Things good? We're at a really exciting time in the fifth grade, month two. My kid is having some adjustment issues in the classroom, but you know, we're working with the school. I really really love the school that they're attending and the help that you get with your kid. They're doing good, They're doing good. Today is a big day for both Dakota and I. We're today getting to meet an actual guide dog for an autistic child, Guide Dogs of America, which is a wonderful and free organization. The adoption process is pretty intense, the application process to get the dog, and of course they have so many more applications than dogs, but one of the final stages of your application is they bring the guide dog to your house and see how your child does with the concept in general. So that's today and that should be very exciting and the guide dog from America. People were asking me if there was a preference for color of the dog, and I was like, I don't think so, you know, And I asked Dakota when I got home, and they said they'll know the right one for me. I don't care if it's brown or black or beige. After you get approved, you have to go to a ten day session learning all the commands. And then when that's done. As soon as that's done, I'm going to jump in the car and pick up some friends and we're going to see Pink. Yes, you know, Pink man. Let's get this party started. She was so young. She was on my TV show. You know, I used to have a TV show on television, And Dakota said to me one day, was it back in black and white? No, but it kind of feels like it. But she was on Pink and she was only twenty two, and she was on a bunch of times. And I just think she's so authentic, she's so artistic, she's so beautiful. She's such a great family person, and I admire her and how she runs her life and the arc that she makes and she's just fantastic. So I'm going to report back on Pink next week. And what else can we say? You know, Donald Trump broke the gag order with a racist whiney v The Wow Wow Wa posts on his truth social which is not truthful at all. How is he allowed to break the law? How is he allowed to break the gag order and not go right directly to jail? Do not pass, go, do not collect two hundred dollars. That's what I'd like to know. We're supposed to show that no one is above the law, and that includes him. So he's broken the gag order many times. Let's put him in jail. That's what I think. Maybe controversial, but that's what I feel honestly, that we have to show the consequences of his action to everyone in the nation so the nation can heal and understand what we have been dealing with for the last eight years. All Right, we have a wonderful, wonderful show today. Amy Nelson is my guest, and you probably don't know who she is. Well, she's a wonderful woman on TikTok and I've been following her for a while now, over a year, maybe almost two years. She is here to tell you what happened to her family to avoid losing money from breaking a contract. Amazon not only made up unfounded charges against Amy's husband, but Amazon got the Department of Justice and the FBI involved in this matter, and you're not gonna believe what happened to Amy and her family, and it is still happening. It's still happening. She can explain what happened better than I can. So take a listen to me having a conversation with my friend and kick ass woman, Amy Nelson. Hey, everybody, please welcome my guest today, Amy Nelson. Amy. I can't even tell you how much I admire you.
Oh, thank you, Rosie. That means a lot.
Now, listen, I met you on TikTok. I was going through and I was hearing the story about your family and the pictures, and every day there were, you know, such specific detailed versions of what happened to you, like so that it was like a movie coming to life in my head. Like you know, I almost see it as like, Oh, I can't wait till I get to the part where you know, they get to sue Amazon.
I would like to fix that part too, right.
Well, tell, let's start at the very beginning. Your husband worked for Amazon, or he worked for somebody who had a contract with Amazon. Explain exactly what he did.
So, my husband worked at Amazon Web Services, which is part of Amazon and Amazon Web services build data centers, which is where the Internet lives. And I think we all think of the Internet as being in the cloud, but it's actually in these big warehouses that are all over the world. And my husband worked there for eight years, had really an incredible experience in a pressure cooker. But he worked on the real estate side, and so he helped Amazon buy land to build data centers or lease data centers. And then he left in twenty nineteen and went out on his own. He had set up the business while he was still at Amazon, which is allowed by Amazon's employment contract.
And when he left, he started working with that company.
And about ten months after he left, the FBI and knocked on our door at six forty five in the morning.
Now before that point was he aware in any capacity that they were even after him, or that they thought he had done something or they were going to a que et new He knew nothing. He was off in his new job. Yeah, And knock, knock, knock, Yeah.
He was off on his new job.
And you know, my husband had hired a lot lawyer when he set up his new company to review everything and make sure everything was on the up and up. And he was working with his lawyer all the time, and so he really had no idea that this could happen. And in fact, the day that the FBI showed up at our house, my husband had his attorney call Amazon and say, hey, I'd love to talk to you, Like, I don't know what's going on, but I'm more than happy to talk to you. And the lawyers told my husband's lawyer, Amazon said, we'll only talk to you if you're pleading guilty to.
A federal crime. And that was just mind blowing.
And what was the crime that they accused him of?
So I always want to save this upfront, but my husband's never even been charged with the crime. So when you hear this wild story, just keep in mind that he's never been charged with any crime. But Amazon accused him of a crime called private sector honest services fraud, which means a private employee is alleged to have deprived his private employer of his quote honest services.
Okay, so so in common speak, that means they're saying that he did what.
They Amazon said that my husband accepted kickbacks during and after his time at Amazon in order to steer real estate transactions to certain real estate developers.
And this is a completely fabricated charge.
Completely.
Yeah, how did the FBI get involved in this? Because knowing your story and hearing how all of this transpired and how many years it's been going on, it seems as though Amazon uses the DOJ as their personal law firm.
It really feels that way. So I'll tell you how it happened. And it's wild because we didn't know any of this for years. We were in the dark. And that's one of the scariest things. I think a lot of people are accused of a crime, you know, don't have a lot of information about how it's happened or why it's happening, and that was certainly our situation. We now know, and we only know this because Amazon leader sued my husband and there was a civil discovery process whereby Amazon had to hand over their communications with the Department of Justice. But we learned through that process that Amazon had gone to the Department of Justice over one hundred times lobbying for the Department of Justice to charge my husband with a crime. Amazon had broken a contract with a real estate developer. They had done that with their business partner named IPI, and the terms of the contract that were broken required that the certain real estate developer named Brian Watson plead guilty or be convicted of a felony, or Amazon and its business partner, we're going to owe Brian Watson hundreds of millions of dollars. And so they broke the contract and the very next day they were at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC meeting with federal prosecutors.
Okay, so you've three kids, right, four three girls or four girls, but when they knocked on you door, you had just had a baby, or it was similar. It was right around that time.
Yeah, my baby, Holland was eight months old when they knocked on our door, and my oldest daughter, Sloan was five.
I had a bunch of kids in four and a half years.
And not only did they come to your house, they seized all of your money.
Yeah, so this is something else I had no idea existed in America. And I think that's a reflection of my privilege and my skin color, which is white.
There is something in America.
Called civil forfeiture, and through civil forfeiture, federal, state, and local governments can seize the assets of any American based on the suspicion of a crime. They don't have to prove a crime, let alone even charge you with one, right because my husband was never charged with any crime. But despite that, in May of twenty twenty, so, in six weeks after the FBI knocked on our door, I got an alert that my Wells Fargo account was overdrawn. And I was like, what, because I had money in my Wells Fargo account. You know, I was running my startup, worked full time like my husband did. And I went and signed onto my bank account and there was a line you know where you.
Would see like your Gaspers talents.
Yeah, there was a line that said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had taken the money out of my bank account. And we quickly learned that every single bank account we had had been emptied, and also the government had seized all of the money my husband had paid his attorneys as well from the attorney's bank accounts.
We'll be right back with more from Amy Nelson. How is this legal? Amy Nelson?
So, civil forfeiture actually goes back to the very beginning of America. They start because of pirates, like ships would come in, not pay their taxes, take their ships away, and so we would go like seize the ships on the open sea to get our taxes, and it's typically used in America today for drug crimes, so it's really abusive. Like even if, like if you're pulled over and they found a dim bag of weed and you're in a state where marijuana is still illegal, they could say, oh, we're taking the whole car because the car is now a crime. And it's used to really pressure people and it's a really horrifying process. And one of the most horrifying parts about it is like in our situation, because they never charged my husband with a crime, the government held our money for twenty two months. There was literally nothing we could do, and then they just gave it back one day.
Did they tell you why they gave it back.
I mean, I assume they gave it back because they didn't want to have to prove anything. Because they finally reached a time where a judge said, okay, government, you've taken this money. Give these people a chance to fight back and say they did nothing wrong. And at that exact moment, the government just gave it back. As long as we promised not to sue them. We had to sign something saying we would not see the Department of justice.
Wow, So what does a family of six do when the government takes their money out of their bank account when their spouse has not even been charged with a crime. What do you do? Where do you go? How do you live? How do you pay for your food for your children? What do you do?
So we were making money every month.
I was working for my startup, and my husband was consulting and working for his company.
And we were mid.
Forties, professionals of graduate degrees, you know, really in the heart of our career. We were making a good living and so we were able to for a while, you know, pay for pay for our lives with.
What we were earning month to month.
Then our legal fees got too big to do that. We've spent over three million dollars in legal fees. And which is I can't it's mind blowing, but sort a certain point, about five months after the government took our bank accounts, I said to my husband, we have to sell our house.
We owned a home in Seattle, and.
I said, we have to sell it, and we have to sell it really quickly or we won't be able to pay lawyers.
And so we did that. I called our realtor, who'd helped us buy the house.
It was the first house we'd ever bought, put down ten percent because we couldn't afford the twenty percent down payment at the time. And she was really helpful and kind, and we packed five bags for all six of us.
We put everything else in storage.
And we got in our minivan and drove away to my sister's house in California and stayed with her and her family and our household. And that gave us enough money to pay for the next part of life and lawyers, and then.
Yeah, a lot of things. Eventually, I had to take a job.
I had to leave my company and take a job in a different state, away from my four daughters in order to pay our legal bills and keep our family going. But we just we just did every single thing you could. We raised money, we borrowed money, everything.
And your mom, I was reading your mom told you when you were so I guess in shock and crushed at the beginning, and defeated and depressed. I imagine your mom told you to fight.
Oh she did.
Yeah, my mom is the most amazing woman. She paid her way through college working as a janitor and did a bunch of other things. And you know she called me and it was all during COVID, right, So this is this all started in the April of twenty twenty, right when COVID was exploding and the lockdowns were happening. So I couldn't see my parents who they were in Ohio and I was in Seattle, and I knew my mom was just dying kind of watching this happen across the country and not able to help. And my parents couldn't help financially, they don't have the means to do that. But you know, my mother facetimed me one day and I was literally sitting on my bathroom floor, I think, just hiding from my reality, and she said, you've got to get up. You've got to get up, and you got to fight because not just for your kids, not just for yourself, but for your husband. Like, get up, you know how to do this.
Get up?
Wow? And you did. You got up, and you decided you were going to put this all out on TikTok and you didn't ask anyone. You just turned on your phone and started talking about the truth of what had happened to one family in America. And it's kind of an unbelievable truth that you know Amazon, Why does Amazon have so much power?
So I did eventually decide to tell the story. And I think, you know, storytelling is incredibly important, right We live and die by the stories of hear you know, it's people falling in love, companies being built like these are the things that inspire us and make us feel And I felt so alone when I felt like I couldn't tell anybody what was happening. But there is a sense of you're accused of a crime in America that you're supposed to be quiet. But my husband's case, like we knew what happened. You know, he wasn't afraid of the truth. I wasn't afraid of the truth, and so I felt that it was the most powerful thing to do would be to share the story, because when you're silent, I think people assume that you're you're guilty of something.
And I thought the best person as hell the story would.
Be me because I knew it and because I was living it, and because in today's world, we all have the ability to get out there and stand up and tell our truth and maybe someone will listen, maybe they won't. I mean, I you know, I've been on Instagram for a very long time and have a following of around twenty five thousand people. And I had never been on TikTok.
I watched it. I thought it was a dancing app.
But you know what me too. At the beginning, I totally thought that, like, why would I want to go on there and dance? I don't want to dance, you.
Know, I can't really dance talking about the FBI raids of my home. But like, but wonderous, I don't want screw it.
I'm just going to go on there.
And I think my first video was like, I'm just going to share the story of what happened to my family, and I just talked into the camera and people really started to listen, and that was remarkable to me, and it made me feel so much less alone, which was really I mean, but I think you know the question you asked of why does Amazons have.
So much power? Amazon is a behemoth. It's in every part of our lives.
And Amazon has billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government.
And listen, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I was deeply.
Involved in politics for most of my life. I was on Barack Obama's National Finance Committee. I worked for Jimmy Carter on elections around the world. I am like a tried and true progressive in sometimes I hear that things coming out of my mouth and I'm like, oh, you sound like a right wing conspiracy theorist, and I'm not. But Amazon has very close relationships with many federal government institutions.
Which is so obvious with your story. Yeah, it's almost like they got to call up and say, we're going to lose billions unless we can get this guy to break, So let's do everything to break him and his family to you know, didn't they threaten to come and have your husband arrested and taken out in cuffs in front of your four girls.
Yeah, over and over and over again.
I mean they, I mean, and they like they There was one moment where, like, you know, they subpoenaed are We were very fortunate in fivilege that we had in home childcare because we had four little kids and my husband and I both worked, and at a certain point the DOJ sabpoenad our former nanny who we paid over the table and paid you know, payroll taxes for through an LLC, because if we hadn't that would have been a pressure tactic because they could have said, we'll charge Amy Nelson with the crime along with their husband because of false tax filings.
Right, it's scary. It's so scary to think that this is the reality and that you would have this occur and continue to occur to this day. It's still going on.
It is.
When Amazon couldn't get criminal charges against my husband, they then sued him, and a federal judge recently throughout Amazon's claims saying my husband hadn't committed to racketeering. I mean they literally said my husband was like a mafia racketeer guy, you know under the rout Go Act.
And the judge said that's not true.
And they said my husband hadn't even violated his employment contract. And the judge throughout all these claims before a civil trial. So imagine that the dj was trying to get my husband to plead guilty to a crime for years based on Amazon's allegations that a federal judge said couldn't survive to a civil trial. Jury didn't need it, didn't even need to hear it.
Wow.
Yeah, Now what did this do to your marriage? And what did this do to your mental state? For both you, your husband and your girls. What what What has the damaging effects been emotionally?
Yeah, that's a hard one.
I mean, I think part of it it's hard to answer in some ways because it is still happening, and so you don't really know how the trauma has impacted you while you're still in it, right, But I mean it's been almost impossible to deal with. I mean I have been I always kind of pride myself. I'm like, oh, I would have survived really well in eighteen hundreds. I'm very sturdy and you know, I'm a workhorse, and this really brought me to my knees physically.
I know, my hair fell out.
I had grew tumor in my thyroid which I had to get out, and I just I lost the ability to like to dream and hope. Right, you're just in survival mode, Like what is the next thing I can do to survive the next hour, the next day, the next week. I can't think beyond that because it's too scary for my husband, I mean, and also like I lost jobs because of this, right, Like it's right, and my husband lost his career, which was so much of his identity.
You know, he he just loved what he did.
He loved building, and he's he is slowly rebuilding his career, but it took that away from him, and that was really really hard to watch. As to our marriage, I mean, I think the stress of raising four little kids while both working is hard on any marriage when your kids are little. I mean that alone was really hard. To layer this on top of it has been heartbreaking. I mean, I don't know what our marriage is, Rosie, Like, I love him to death, he loves me, and we've been on a.
Battlefield and until we have frot that battlefield.
Like sometimes, the way I envision it is that I'm trying to set at dinner table and my husband's trying to do the dishes, and our little kids are sitting there and there are like snipers surrounding our house and we live a normal life and it doesn't feel normal right right.
And I see again in the movie version, which I can see in my head, you know, you could see those little red lights, you know, from the laser scopes going on as you go about your life, you know. I mean, it's just it's shocking to me that they could get away with this. And maybe that's naivete. But people now are following your story. You have a lot of followers, You have people who are very interested in this. Yeah, wouldn't you think that Amazon would be afraid of the bad press and that they would try to appease you and make it all go away and say I'm sorry and give you, you know, compensations. That's the musical ending of this, right.
I think there's like a lot of things here. I think that Amazon, do you play poker? Yes, okay, so you know the big stack bully when you get so many chips, it's just yes, or it doesn't matter, you're going to win.
You can bully write like. I think that Amazon thinks of itself like that.
Like if you look at what's happening right now with the Federal Trade Commission and they're going to file an anti trust lawsuit against Amazon. When companies are facing anti trust lawsuits, they get to meet with the DOJ and they can make some concessions. Right, they can be like, well, DJ, you know, or FTC, like we'll do X, Y or z. In this situation, Amazon has offered zero concessions. I think they're like, screw it, we can do what we want Amazon, Right, and I feel like they think that every step of the way. And you know, we're not the only family. That Amazon has done this too, and they've gone after seller consultants through the Department of Justice with criminal charges. They've gone after vendors through the Department of Justice of criminal charges. All are evolving around these allegations that people are violating internal Amazon policy and so I feel like they just think they can do this. And I think right now they're so far into this that like what are they going to do? And the real estate developer Brian Watson, you know, because of the allegations they made and what they've done in the courts, his company, which had one point seven billion in assets under control, has been destroyed one point seven billion dollars. So like what happens? Like what is their endgame? I think about it all the time, like what are they doing?
Like what is you know, what are they doing? And they're just trying to continue business as usual? Is this something that they do so often that they don't even think of it anymore as as criminal? Have they become so empowered by, you know, a government that doesn't tax them enough and you know, I don't know, it seems to me that it's the most absurd story you've ever heard, and how could they get away with it?
Yeah, And I think, like, I mean, I also think they're really angry at me, Like they've sent me letters telling me to like take down my TikTok or else to some kind of like guys like you pulled the nuclear option really early and sent the FBI to my house with guns.
Like a letter doesn't scare me at this point.
Cor this in February telling me to take down my TikTok or else and then I wrote back like no, and then averywhere.
Else what I'm not going to get the prime delivery special?
But I think that like they just they you know, like if you go back to the beginning of this, I didn't know this, but I'd like taken a deep dive into this. Ninety eight point two percent of Americans who are accused of a federal crime plead guilty.
They played the odds.
Ninety eight point two percent.
Well, yeah, Rosie, because if you're accused of tedral crime, you have to have millions of dollars to fight it. I mean, that's just a reality, Like you have to have millions of dollars to survive a criminal trial, Like, we don't have a fair jury system in America. We have like a plea bargaining system. Like it's kind of a farce. The whole thing doesn't make sense. So you have to have millions of dollars. And there's something called a trial penalty where if you don't plead and you take a case to trial, they can put you in prison for much longer. They can penalize you for exercising your right to a jury trial.
Wow. Yeah, wow, So what is what is your end game? I would love to hear that you're going to make this into a podcast on its own, just this topic, because it's it's so compelling amy and it's so outlandishly overreaching from Amazon and into the DOJ and the FBI. It's crazy making.
It is crazy making, And there will be storytelling about this with some projects that I'm working on, and I think it's really important to tell the story for a bunch of different reasons. For me personally, you know, as somebody who's always worked in politics, like I can't walk away from this without trying to change something so it doesn't happen to other people.
And for me, the two.
Pieces of that are civil forfeiture, I mean just has to go. We should not be able to take money on the suspicion of a crime. It particularly impacts folks of color and immigrants, not not white people like me. It disproportionately impacts people who don't look like me. And it's devastating. And you know, if your money, your home is taken by civil forfeiture, you have to pay lawyers to fight to get it back. It's a ridiculous system. We don't need it. Like back in the time of pirates, fine, the ship went away, it was hard to find. But like we live in an age where you can find anybody anywhere. You know how to get them, like, you don't need to take their money before you prove a crime. And then second, I really think that you know, in my husband's situation, Amazon hired former federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia to go and lobby their former colleagues who are still prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia.
And that has got to stop. That is not open.
And Amazon has hired hundreds of former prosecutors, so they have this in everywhere across the country and like, I don't have that in so they're gonna you know, they're listening to Amazon. Like my husband didn't ever even get the chance to talk to the prosecutors.
They just listened to Amazon and believe them.
Wow. Wow, So the next steps for your family, the next steps you're kind of waiting in at their mercy.
Amazon lost against my husband in federal court, and so Amazon is now appealing that. So we have to go through that whole process where they appeal what they lost, which means Amazon will spend many more millions of dollars to do that. I think that Amazon has spent over fifty million dollars on lawyers, and that's holy shit. And like the weird thing about it is, this is about something that a federal judge said, Amazon hasn't proven a dollar of damages about, Like Amazon, this is all about some real estate. Amazon kept all the real estate. They're selling cloud computing from it and making billions of dollars. So like they've benefited from what they say was a crime. So it's super bizarre what they're doing. But so we wait for the appeal and then you know, my husband has already sued Amazon in Washington State and one part of it, and I'm sure he'll continue that lawsuit once Amazon's appeal is over. You know, I think I've been very much injured, and so I have my four daughters, and I really want my daughters to have a voice in this.
Yes, you know, so how do they talk about it?
So it's you know, it's interesting. They were so young when it started. And my littlest is just four now, but this has been her whole life. But she doesn't have any comprehension of it yet that I know. But my oldest daughter, Sloan is nine now, and she knows enough. And one day she asked me. She said, Mom, I is said, okay to hate someone. I said, why are you asking that, Sloan? She was, I think I hate Jeff Bezos And I said, you know, hates a really strong word, but i'd like to talk.
About Wow, Mom, that took a lot of restraint. I would have said, yes him, we can hate. That's what I totally would have said.
But I said, you know, I think I can understand why you would feel that way. I said, I hate him. I'll be honest with you, but I'd like to talk about why you feel that way, and we talked about it, and you know, she knows that Jeff Bezos had a company that was trying to put her daddy in jail, and that's a bit, that's a heavy thing for a nine year.
Old totally, and imagine how terrified she is of the possibility that that's going to happen. Imagine what it does to the safety and psyche of your home when armed guards come in, you know, swat team. What does that do to a baby's sense of life and safety?
I mean, I hope they feel as safe as they can, because all I've ever told them when we talk about it is like mommy and Daddy will fight as hard as they can and as long as they can to keep you safe because because we know the truth, and it's really important to fight for the truth. And you know, their grandparents believe that we all like that is this is how I was raised, It's how they'll be raised.
And you know it's important for them to.
See it, but it is true, like when you lose that sense of safety, it is incredibly, incredibly hard. And one thing that was really important to me in fighting back. And I hope my girls see this because you know, their names got dragged into this. My name got dragged in my husband's name, right like Amazon named all these people. And what Amazon wanted to do is say, but we're just Amazon. But Amazon technically has done nothing to me. And I've tried to explain that to my daughters. Amazon didn't do anything to you. Amazon is a logo. People did this to you. Human beings with names. And it's not just Jeff Bezos. It's the current CEO, Andy Jassey, It's the general counsel David Sapolski, it's the lawyers Matt jadin U see Omar. You know, they have names, and these names are in public quort documents that Amazon has put into the world, and those people are responsible. Those people have families. Have they ever thought about what it's like for us to be asked? Have they ever thought about my daughters and whether they can sleep at night?
I would say no. I would say no. I think you know, when a company or a person becomes a multi billionaire, their soul leaves their body. It's almost as though if you measure in money for long enough, you will be swallowed by it whole. You know it. It amazes me the power that these billionaires have, and it's very depressing.
It's so depressing, and then like you see these like people profiles where it's like Lauren Sanchez steps out in a glowing literary dress with her ten billion carrot engagement ring, and you're like, why is that news?
Right?
Why?
Why are we Why are we so obsessed with this?
Right?
Because the obsession with it gives it the power in the fuel. And I can assure you that the billionaires, yeah, don't care about us.
So it's just it's a weird. It's a weird.
I think that they just are so removed from humanity. They're so removed, you know, and people will say this about me, I'm a millionaire, right, am I removed from humanity? I guess in some ways I definitely am.
But I think that like it is this thing too, right that you're still here sharing stories like you did on the show, right, And that's giving voice to people, And that's something that I think it could. It has to prevent you from being completely disconnected because you're you're listening, and to your point, like with billionaires, they just don't listen, they're not you know, they're kind of like I think they can ice themselves up because no one wants to have set Jeff Bezos that makes a lot of money off of him.
No one's going to sit down and tell him the truth, right like that.
I know, I've I've worked, I've been around other billionaires, and like, I think it's a similar thing, right that, Like people are just like a pee, like the court gesters in a way like appease the guy. It's always I've always been men in that capacity, like appease the guy, right, Like what does he need? What will make him happy? How do we give him what he wants? Because then we'll get we want right and so.
Right right and what you know, and when everyone starts doing that around you, even though you don't think they are, they are, you know they are. But but if that becomes the way people interact with you, you start to feel kind of a lofty disconnection. I'd imagine, right, and uh an ability to sort of think only of yourself, you know, yeah, I.
Mean I think that would be exactly where you'd end up. I as think it's funny and like it's particularly American. We always talk about like Russian oligarchs and an oligarch. Right, it is like I'm a person of extreme wealth who's very close to the government. And I'm like, guys, like we might have that same issue here in America.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
We don't ever want to admit that Elon Musk is a ton of ties to the American governments all like Starlink, like he like has some sway over what's happening in Ukraine with his satellites, Like that is wild. He is a man, right, He's a man who can sway geopolitical issues.
It doesn't even make any.
Sense, No, it really doesn't.
It's so easy to be such a hero when you have that much money, and yet none of them are and that is so weird, and we don't demand it.
We don't ask that were like, let.
No, I mean, can you can you think of one billionaire philanthropist that it does give billions away? I don't know, can you think of one?
I mean, other than Mackenzie Scott?
No, yeah, other than her? No? And I love what she's doing. I think all the more power to her, you know, Yeah.
I mean I think like the Gates Foundation has done a lot in the world, but it is so it's the Gates Foundation to the point of like naming things.
It's the Gates Foundation, and it's.
Their work, right, Like it's their work. It's not just giving it to people who are doing the good work. I mean, there are so many charities in this country doing so many good things.
And well with experts. Yeah, just I don't know. It's weirdo boy, and it's really weird. What the what is the platform you're going to use to do this podcast thing?
Do you know yet? Or is it too early to talk?
Too early to talk about it? Okay, oh, that'd be great.
And then I'm also I have a I have a book proposal out right now, which is fantastic.
Yeah, so it's a.
I'm excited about it, worked on it for a long time, and I think it's the right time to start telling the story in a book as well.
Well. I think that would be wonderful. And I can see you selling the rights and hopefully getting some of the money that you uh, you know, spent on this catastrophe of your life. This no charges ever against your husband and four years of hell and harassment from the DOJ and the lawyers of Amazon. It makes no sense in uh, in my mind, you know.
It really doesn't. I would say the one thing that I think has been helpful. I really learned though that I wish other people could learn.
I would.
I hope people don't have to learn it, but if they had to, is that you know, it can be really terrifying to use your voice with really powerful people and institutions are coming at you. But if you have the truth, like you can use your voice, and you should. And that is the remarkable thing about TikTok.
I think, I agree. There are so many, you know, instances where women don't get voice of a microphone. You know, they don't get the chance to. If you have access to a microphone and you're somehow in the public eye, use it, even if that's TikTok. Only use it. So say what your your piece, say what you feel needs to be said. What's happening, you know, I mean, authenticity and truth have been so damaged in the last you know, ten years and maybe even more. And I think it's all people crave, it's all humans need. It's all that we really want, but we haven't known where to get it or how to get it yet.
Yeah, I think that's completely right. And I think, you know, it's made worse by the fact that, like the news is hard to digest and you you don't know if you're ever really getting the story. And I think that, you know, the ability to tell your own story is a remarkable thing. I think about the Violet Revolution, how Twitter allowed that.
To happen in twenty.
Elevens by allowing people to gather together, and I think that, you know, social media has given us all a voice and it's it's a remarkable thing.
TikTok is, it's an incredible platform.
Well, and I'm so glad to have met you on there. I feel like i'm your friend that when I see you pop up, I'm always like leaving a little comment like keep going because you know you're you're a really remarkable woman, Amy or you should be played by Jennifer Garner as it goes to a series and you know, kick ass like Alias. You know what I'm saying, Like, I'd love for you, like to get into training and become an MMA star and become the champion and then fight Jeff Bezos. So exactly. Well, thank you so much for coming on this podcast, and I will totally totally look forward to whatever truth you want to put out there in whatever form, because people need to know what's happened to your family and how it could happen to them if it could happen to you, And it's pretty terrifying. And thank you for sharing it and alerting people and warning people that this is a reality that happens to people and mostly you never hear about it.
Thank you so much, Rosie. It means the world that you've listened and that you have me on today.
Well my pleasure, Amy Nelson. Find her on TikTok. Ladies and gentlemen. We will be back with questions right after this Isn't that insane? Can you even believe that happened to this family and it's still happening. I would like to add that since we tape this podcast, the government, supported by seventeen state attorneys general, finally filed a long awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. That's right, they're saying it's a monopoly. The government alleged that the etailer uses a set of interlocking, anti competitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power. Wow. That is a huge thing for us as a nation and a huge thing for Amy Nelson and her family. We are definitely going to have her on again and do a follow up when this is all finally resolved for her, and I hope she gets to file her own lawsuit against Amazon and Jeff Bezos for what they have done to her family. That's just a little personally anecdote right there. Okay, now we have some questions and comments from you, the loyal listeners. Thank you so much. I think we have two today. I haven't heard them. I never do. We just go for it as we go for it, and go ahead, go for it.
Hi, Rosie, my name is Annie. I'm from Quebec, Canada. I just want to tell you that it's a couple of times now that I watch your show that I listened to your podcast with the Doctor Rosen and about we Go videos and pick and everything, and it really changed the way I think about it. I mightpy you did that because you're doing your service to people, because nobody in around me talks about these things. I tak ozempic for like six months now. I lost like thirty six pounds about a pound a week, which is very good. And it changed my life. But not just because it my weight is lower on the scale. It's because it changed my life. I can move more. I don't think about food. But I realized that when I listen to you, and I listened to the episode like for the fourth time today because I was taking a walk and listening it to it again, and I was thinking, my god, nobody explained it like that to me, and it really changed something inside me that I accept myself more because I was thinking that I was doing the taking the easy way, taking ozembic. But it's not that. It's just the way it's working for my body. I have the freaking thrifty gene and nothing will change for me. I'm almost fifty now and it's changing my life and I'm so happy and I'm a new person. And I'm happy to see that you talk about it, because if you talk about it, other people will understand that it's not a question of laziness. It's a question of being ready to change your life. And obesity is an illness like any other any other illness. If you have a cancer, you're going to take medication, but it's the same thing if you're a beast. You need the medication to help you. It's changing my life and I find it amazing. So I just want to thank you because I was looking for ways to talk to you because it really changed my life and I just wanted you to know, so I have a good day. Goodbye.
First of all, what a beautiful message. And second of all, I love your accent. I really love your accent. I could listen to you all day. But yes, I mean I have been on Munjaro since December and it's changed my life too, Honey. You know what, I'm going to be sixty two in March, and I fought with Waite my whole life, my whole family, my extended family. Everyone has the O'Donnell shape, the big beer belly kind of and but you know, you always felt like something was wrong with you, and you were lazy, and you had a will power, and it's you do a real big job of beating yourself up if you're an overweight person in this world, because societal stigma is still so prevalent and so intense, and I think the truth is what people want and need, and self love is part of the journey of healing. And I think anyone who says that taking munjarro or any of these drugs is the easy way out is lying or doesn't understand or is lacking the compassion that one would hope you are able to give yourself. So thank you. I would love to talk to you about it. And I think this drug is going to be used to help millions more people, not just people with diabetes and obesity, which is a disease. So thank you, thank you, thank you. All Right, do we have another one? The last one for the day, and then we're done? Hit it?
Hi, Rosie. This is Nick from Chicago. I'm a longtime fan and first time caller. I had to call because I am turning forty this year and my husband had asked what did I want for my birthday, and the only thing I could think of was I wanted a Rosie O'Donnell showcake. So next weekend, I turned forty on October thirteenth, and I am getting my Rosie cake. I can't wait to see it. I have no idea what it's going to look like, but I am thrilled. And the reason that is is because your show has meant so much to me. Not only in the years that I would run home from school watching it after school and learning about Broadway and learning about TV and New York life and all the things, but it taught me so much about empathy and doing good for others with all the super kids always being charitable with no matter if you had a little or if you had a lot, but just always looking out for others. And it's really paved away from me in life to be what I would consider it a good person. I just can't thank you enough. And I had the opportunity to see your show in Chicago when you were here, and it was such a thrill and just a dream to finally see you do a show in person and everything, and it was just a thrill. And then to have you living in Chicago was even better. It was just awesome. So thank you for everything. You've meant so much to me. And my question for today is with the Rossi O'Donnell show, I was curious if you have any props or any of the set pieces that were part of it. This set was such an integral part to that show and just set the tone and was so fun and it just even when the desks were being switched out after any Lasagna won the trivia contest, it was just a ball to see what was going to happen next, and it was always just such a familiar, happy place. So I would love to hear if you have anything, love you, and thanks again for everything.
That is the sweetest. You are the sweetest, and happy birthday to you. That's such a it's so it's unbelo be to be my age and have lived my life and to get to hear comments like this. I have to say, I always tell the producers it sounds like I'm picking the questions because they're all so nice. So I'm like, you know, it can't be they're all nice, but they are. You're all nice, So thank you for that. You're all nice. You know. I don't have anything from the actual set. I didn't keep that stuff. I have specific things that people gave me. I have an amazing, amazing scrap book that has every letter of every celebrity who wrote me when the show premiered, and it is unbelievable to read through Bob Hope and you know, Carol Channing, and it's just it's hard to believe that it's even my life. I have to say, I'm so glad it affected you in such a positive way. I'm so glad that you sound like such an empathy, kind hearted person and that you credit me with any of that. I beg to differ, but I thank you for what your words mean to me. Thank you for saying them and for leaving the message, and thank you for loving with a big heart. I appreciate it. Hey, keep these questions and comments coming. Suggestions, all your thoughts and opinions to onward Rosie at gmail dot com. That's onward Rosie at gmail dot com. Next week, right here, my friend, the magical singer songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins joins me for a wild and fun conversation. She's got a brand new album out, she's been touring, and she's a pretty enchanted human. Sophie B. Hawkins next week right here. Thanks, byebye,