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Oshane Steward, age 31, of Shelton, was sentenced on Tuesday, Sept. 5 to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, said Vanessa Roberts Avery, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Stewart created multiple vendor accounts with Amazon allowing him to sell merchandise through the website on a third-party basis.
He often opened the accounts using false names, email addresses, and other identifying information. After setting up the accounts, Stewart represented to Amazon that he was shipping valuable merchandise to be held for sale by the company, court records show.
In reality, he would not ship the merchandise, and would later falsely claim that it had been lost, supporting his false claims with fabricated documents. Amazon sent Stewart a series of refunds for the purportedly lost merchandise, officials said.
Through this scheme, Stewart defrauded Amazon of approximately $742,231.16. Judge Thompson ordered him to pay full restitution.
In Nov. 2022, Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Stewart who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
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