Former Amazon worker condemned to 10 months in jail for bribery scheme
Key takeaways:
- An ex-Amazon worker was convicted Friday to 10 months in jail for his involvement in an international bribery scheme.
- Rohit Kadimisetty, who worked at Amazon till 2015, claimed guilty the previous fall to plotting to commit bribery.
- The DOJ alleged he and five other people bribed Amazon workers to receive personal information on opponents, reinstate suspended listings, and further help to gain “an upper hand” over other vendors on Amazon’s online marketplace.
Ten months of jail to ex-Amazon employee:
A former Amazon worker was condemned Friday to federal jail for involvement in an international bribery scheme.
Rohit Kadimisetty, a dealer support worker out of Amazon’s Hyderabad, India, office till 2015, was instructed to spend ten months in jail after he realized he conspired to commit bribery across state and national borders.
Kadimisetty was also requested to spend a $50,000 penalty and undertake three years of supervised release.
Kadimisetty is one of six people the U.S. Department of Justice accused of conspiracy for allegedly bribing Amazon workers to gain an “upper hand” over other vendors on Amazon’s online marketplace. In addition to Kadimisetty, seller consultant Ed Rosenberg, Joseph Nilsen, Kristen Leccese, Hadis Nuhanovic, and Nishad Kunju, who Amazon in India hired till 2018.
Between late 2017 and 2020, these individuals allegedly bribed Amazon workers to leak details regarding the firm’s search and ranking algorithms, as well as confidential share data on third-party sellers they contended with on the marketplace. The scheme also involved bribing employees to reinstate suspended accounts and trashing competitors’ product listings, the DOJ accused in its charge.
In all, the people allegedly paid $100,000 worth of bribes to workers and reaped almost $100 million in competitive advantages, the DOJ stated.
In 2018, Amazon sacked four workers in India allegedly linked to the bribery scheme, including Kunju and three individuals not identified in court filings.