2 plead guilty in scheme to manipulate Amazon Marketplace

SEATTLE (AP) — Two more defendants have pleaded guilty for their role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to manipulate the Amazon Marketplace e-commerce platform. Six people have been charged in the conspiracy, which federal prosecutors say involved paying bribes to get Amazon employees and contractors to leak confidential data and to use that data to grant certain sellers a competitive advantage on Amazon Marketplace. Joseph Nilsen and Kristen Leccese, both of New York, entered their pleas Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, acknowledging they paid more than $100,000 in bribes from 2016 to 2020. Another player was sentenced in February to 10 months in prison.