Several Amazon sellers sentenced for illegal operations

In recent years, Amazon has significantly stepped up its crackdown on illegal sellers on the platform. Previously, a seller colluded with Amazon employees to make a profit and was eventually sent to prison. Recently, another seller was sentenced.

It is reported that after investigation, US regulators found that several sellers were suspected of manipulating the prices of many DVDs and Blu-ray discs sold on the Amazon platform .

“According to court documents, the defendants and their co-conspirators agreed to illegally raise the prices of DVDs and Blu-ray discs sold on Amazon’s storefront, resulting in these products being sold at uncompetitive prices for a long time,” the department said in a press release after the final verdict in the case was announced on Wednesday.

According to published information, a seller from New York and his three companies finally pleaded guilty to price manipulation in February this year after being prosecuted last year.

The seller was sentenced to 18 months in prison after a court ruling on Wednesday, and his three companies - Michelle's DVD Fun Store, MJR Prime and Prime Brooklyn - were sentenced to criminal fines of $156,520, $125,688 and $61,844 respectively in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

In addition, one co-defendant was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and six months' home confinement; two other defendants were sentenced to one month's imprisonment and seven months' home confinement; and one defendant was sentenced to one month's imprisonment and five months' home confinement.

Furthermore, all defendants' sentences included criminal fines, including another company, BDF Enterprises, which was sentenced to a criminal fine of $234,000.

"Americans are increasingly relying on online shopping platforms, which means it is more important than ever to protect them from being defrauded by online sellers," said Manish Kumar, deputy attorney general of the Justice Department's antitrust division, in a press release on Wednesday . "These sentences demonstrate our continued commitment to combating violators of antitrust laws, whether those violations occur online or offline."

After this judgment, it is estimated that the small number of sellers with ulterior motives may think twice before having similar ideas again.

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