Two months before he was set to appear in a federal courtroom to face charges in relation to a bribery case, Amazon consultant Ed Rosenberg posted an announcement on Facebook and on LinkedIn admitting his guilt.
EcommerceBytes broke the news on Saturday that Rosenberg was changing his plea after years of publicly denying his participation in the Amazon bribery scheme. He’ll appear before a judge on Thursday, March 30, 2023 to plead in the case.
As a consultant, Rosenberg had helped sellers regain their accounts, but he also created a large community called the Amazon Sellers Group (ASGTG.com), where he and its members offered free support and information to help cope with the challenges of selling on the Amazon marketplace. The first five comments posted to his public apology on LinkedIn were messages of support from his followers, including the following:
“Ed, I always trusted you and always will. Nothing you say will change that. Your the best.”
“I hope the deal that you are taking is no jail time. Good luck!
“If amazon made it easier to address the complaints they lodge against sellers, it would not be necessary to resort to extraordinary measures. perhaps it was illegal, but not unethical in my opinion.”
We had reached out to Ed Rosenberg on Friday, he has not responded to our inquiry. He posted the following message in his LinkedIn post on Monday afternoon:
This is an important message from me, Ed Rosenberg; it is an apology about a crime that I am pleading guilty to. Please read it.
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. 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.
I should not have engaged in any of this conduct. I am sorry to have done these things. I very much regret doing them. I will be pleading guilty in federal court to a crime for this misconduct. I promise that I will not do this again. I strongly encourage all sellers and seller consultants to follow my lead on this.
I understand that Amazon enforces its important Terms and Conditions to protect the integrity of the competitive marketplace and for the benefit of the public, consumers, and sellers alike. This is another reason I encourage all sellers and consultants to follow these important rules.
No one should pay bribes to Amazon employees to provide private Amazon information. 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. This conduct is wrong and criminal. Persons who engage in this misconduct should expect criminal prosecution, which—as I well know—is a huge deal.
In the course of this case, I have made some public statements about this prosecution and the indictment. 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.
Rosenberg also included a YouTube video in the post with an introductory statement. He had in recent months or more reported that scammers had impersonated him in an effort to defraud his followers, so the video may have been an effort to reassure them his post was authentic.
I am glad and amazed that he made that video and apologized. That is a rarity.
this poster is really stretching it. you don’t get indicted for being unethical. I feel sorry for whomever has to put up with that one on a daily basis. Don’t make babies.
“amazon made it easier to address the complaints they lodge against sellers, it would not be necessary to resort to extraordinary measures. perhaps it was illegal, but not unethical in my opinion.”