Seller sentenced for bribing Amazon employees

An Amazon seller in Georgia has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for attempting to obtain insider information and improper benefits from Amazon employees through bribery, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced.

It is understood that the man's name is Hades Nuhanovich , 32 years old. His actions violated Amazon 's platform rules and would harm the interests of other sellers.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Richard Jones said commercial bribery would have serious consequences . " I can't find any other reason to explain your behavior except greed. "

Prosecutor Nick Brown added : " This conduct not only harms other sellers on Amazon , but also consumers who buy products on Amazon . "

" Mr. Nuhanovich and his accomplices bribed Amazon employees to reinstate their banned products or remove negative reviews. Even after Amazon fired one bribe-taker , Nuhanovich continued to bribe more employees. "

According to court records, Nuhanovich had run an e-commerce business since 2010, selling items such as DVDs and smartphone cases.

Between 2017 and 2018, he paid more than $20,000 in bribes to an Amazon employee to obtain insider information that gave his own business a competitive advantage, and he also made money by selling some of the inside information to others.

In addition, Nuhanovich would use internal means to fabricate false information about competitors . It is understood that due to false intellectual property complaints filed by Nuhanovich , a competitor was suspended from selling on the Amazon platform .

What’s even more outrageous is that they will use internal channels to find the contact information of consumers who gave bad reviews, and then bombard them with emails.

In addition to the above charges, Nuhanovich also admitted to tax evasion. In 2019, he falsely stated that his company's total revenue in 2018 was $820,000, while the actual total revenue was $1.44 million, a difference of nearly double.

In addition, several accomplices in the case have also pleaded guilty. Rohit Kadimiseti was sentenced to 10 months in prison and a $50,000 fine last year. Kristen Leches and Joseph Nelson are scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2023. The remaining defendants are scheduled to stand trial on May 15, 2023.

This verdict can be said to be very gratifying. It has dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of illegal businesses and also made those who want to take crooked paths feel deterred.

For sellers, if they want to maintain a long-term business, complying with regulations is the most basic thing. If they always think about making quick money, they will eventually shoot themselves in the foot.

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