A Brooklyn-based consultant who helped Amazon sellers get their accounts reinstated was sentenced on Friday to two years of probation, including a year of home confinement, and a $100,000 fine because, according to prosecutors, he “paid bribes for inside info to get sellers reinstated, and used false documents to claim products met quality and safety guidelines.”
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones noted that Ephraim “Ed” Rosenberg participated in the scheme for a period of three years and said, “You stopped because you got caught by law enforcement,” according to the prosecutors.
Rosenberg fought the 2020 indictment until earlier this year, calling it a “crockdictment,” according to the US Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington. In the government’s sentencing memorandum, they wrote, “While the indictment was pending, Rosenberg repeatedly attacked the indictment and proclaimed his innocence using social media. Rosenberg referred to the indictment as a hoax and a phony crockdictment, and he accused law enforcement of failing to do basic fact-checking.”
In a press release announcing the sentencing on Friday, Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman said, “Mr. Rosenberg participated in a scheme to bribe Amazon employees for confidential information and improper benefits – and he didn’t just funnel bribes through his co-conspirators to workers in India — he paid a Seattle Amazon employee more than $18,000 for confidential information. After first attacking the federal indictment brought in this case, Mr. Rosenberg has now admitted his crimes and has publicized his regret about his criminal conduct as a warning to others who scheme to illegally manipulate the marketplace.”
Prosecutors agreed to a sentencing recommendation that included no prison in part because of his public apology, as we noted in Saturday’s article where we also included a surprising detail revealed in defendant Rosenberg’s sentencing memorandum – his pledge to perform an unusual form of “community service” after sentencing: mentoring new online sellers:
“Notably, Mr. Rosenberg also pledges to perform 260 hours of community service by providing five 30-minute mentoring sessions each week for two years to assist, guide, and mentor individuals starting e-commerce sales businesses,” his lawyer wrote in the fling.
Prosecutors also differentiated between Rosenberg’s activity in the conspiracy and two other codefendants who received prison sentences – the mitigating factors included the following:
“Rosenberg operates a legitimate consulting business that has served many seller clients through legal means, with the conduct charged in this case constituting a significant aberration from those legal business activities.
“Shortly before pleading guilty in this case, Rosenberg used his extensive Amazon seller network to disseminate a public apology urging others not to engage in such illegal tactics on the Amazon Marketplace.
“In addition, although Rosenberg participated in illegal tactics to bolster the business of his clients, there is no evidence that Rosenberg participated in co-conspirators’ direct negative attacks on competing seller businesses.
“Furthermore, unlike co-defendants Joseph Nilsen and Hadis Nuhanovic, Rosenberg has not been convicted of any additional tax offense.”
At the heart of the case were Amazon’s secret “annotations” that could help consultants get their clients reinstated – see more in Saturday’s article.
Well, if Amazon would just do the right thing and work with sellers – none of this would be needed or have happened.
Amazon (like little bro eBay) like to bully small powerless sellers.