Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and David Sundberg, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that RAJHNI YANKANA, 27, of Bridgeport, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to a charge stemming from his fraud against Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”).
According to court documents and statements made in court, Yankana 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, Yankana 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. Amazon sent Yankana a series of refunds for the purportedly lost merchandise.
The government contends that Amazon lost approximately $210,000 as a result of Yankana’s criminal conduct.
Yankana pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Judge Thompson scheduled sentencing for January 6, 2023.
Yankana is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Conor M. Reardon and Christopher W. Schmeisser.