Shelton Man Accused Of Defrauding Amazon Sentenced To Prison: Feds

NORWALK, CT — A Shelton man accused of defrauding Amazon.com, Inc. of over $700,000 was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery announced in a news release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Oshane Stewart, 31, of Shelton, created multiple vendor accounts with Amazon, allowing him to sell merchandise through the website on a third-party basis.

Stewart often opened the accounts using false names, email addresses and other identifying information, Avery said.

After setting up the accounts, Stewart represented to Amazon that he was shipping it valuable merchandise to be held for sale by the company. 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, according to Avery.

Amazon sent Stewart a series of refunds for the purportedly lost merchandise. Through this process, Stewart defrauded Amazon of approximately $742,231.16, according to Avery.

Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Nov. 8, 2022, and is required to report to prison Dec. 5. He is currently released on bond, Avery said.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Thompson also ordered Stewart to pay full restitution. Two other men have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with this case and are awaiting sentencing, Avery said.