A seller consultant has admitted to bribing Amazon employees in an effort to curry favor and help their clients.
Ephraim “Ed” Rosenberg is a well-known seller consultant for companies doing business on Amazon’s platform. According to CNBC, Rosenberg was one of six people accused of illegally trying to give sellers an unfair advantage.
Rosenberg has admitted his role, saying he bribed Amazon employees in the furtherance of his goals:
“For a time, some years ago, I began to obtain and use Amazon’s internal annotations — Amazon’s private property — to learn the reasons for sellers’ suspensions, in order to assist them in getting reinstated, if possible,” wrote Rosenberg on LinkedIn. “On some occasions, I paid bribes, directly and indirectly, to Amazon employees to obtain annotations and reinstate suspended accounts. These actions were against the law.”
“In the course of this case, I have made some public statements about this prosecution and the indictment,” Rosenberg said. “Those statements are not accurate and I disavow those statements. This statement I am making now is accurate and truthful and I will continue to stand by it.”
“No one should pay bribes to Amazon employees to provide private Amazon information,” Rosenberg added on Monday. “If it is apparent that internal information has been illegally leaked, no one should use it. Nor should anyone pay any Amazon employees for any other special favors regarding a seller’s account.”
Rosenberg could face up to five years and $250,000 in fines, although prosecutors are recommending two years probation and $100,000 in fines, according to Bloomberg’s Spencer Soper. In contrast, it’s estimated that Rosenberg and the other perpetrators netted $100,000 in benefits.
