HARTFORD, Conn — A Shelton man was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a scheme that defrauded Amazon of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
Oshane Stewart, 31, of Shelton, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Stewart created multiple vendor accounts with Amazon allowing him to sell merchandise through the website on a third-party basis. The accounts were opened with false names, email addresses and other identifying information.
After the accounts were set up, Stewart told Amazon that he was shipping valuable merchandise to be held for sale by the company. However, he would not ship the merchandise, and would later lie claiming it had been lost, supporting his false claims with fabricated documents. Amazon would then send Stewart a series of refunds for the supposedly lost merchandise.
Through this scheme, Stewart defrauded Amazon of approximately $742,231.16. He was ordered to pay full restitution.
On November 8, 2022, Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Stewart who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on December 5.
Two others have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with this scheme. On February 10, 2022, Stewart’s brother, Kenoy Stewart, pleaded guilty and admitted that his conduct resulted in a loss to Amazon exceeding $1 million. Rajhni Yankana pleaded guilty on August 26, 2022. Each awaits sentencing.
Doug Stewart is a Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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