The U.S. Department of Justice has charged six people with bribing Amazon employees and contractors in an attempt to supply third-party sellers with unfair advantages on the company's marketplace. A grand jury indictment describes how Amazon employees allegedly accepted more than $100,000 in bribes and, in exchange, boosted the products of certain sellers and attacked their competitors.

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• The six individuals, who worked as consultants for Amazon’s third-party sellers, allegedly paid at least 10 Amazon employees and contractors to leak internal intel, reinstate suspended sellers' accounts and products, and suspend the accounts of their competitors. 
• The leaked intel allegedly included the algorithmic formula for Marketplace's search engine and inside competitive and performance data of other sellers, such as customers, revenues, and ad campaigns. The competitive benefits reportedly tallied in the tens of millions of dollars.
• Amazon hasn't said if it fired the employees allegedly linked to the scheme, which dates back to 2017.
• U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran says the "buying public" is the ultimate victim in the alleged scheme since many purchased "inferior or even dangerous goods" that shouldn't have been on Amazon's marketplace.
• The indicted individuals are Ephraim Rosenberg, 45, of Brooklyn; Joseph Nilsen, 31, and Kristen Leccese, 32, of Manhattan; Hadis Nuhanovic, 30, of Georgia; Rohit Kadimisetty, 27, of California; and Nishad Kunju, 31, of India.
• They face wire fraud charges, which carry a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and bribery-related and improper access charges, which carry up to five years in prison and another $250,000. The six will appear in a Seattle court next month.
• From Twitter: Amazon seller Molson Hart, CEO of toy company Viahart, claims that bribing Amazon employees has been "going on for years" and this is "only the tip of the iceberg."

Amazon says it will launch Sidewalk – a wireless protocol to keep smart devices connected even if they're far from a WiFi router – later this year. The company says Echo and Tile devices will work on the low-bandwidth, long-distance system, which would use the 900 MHz spectrum to extend WiFi networks, presumably across neighborhoods.

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• The WiFi will pass through Sidewalk "Bridge" devices, such as Echo products and Ring cameras. Devices like Tile trackers would connect to nearby networks via the Bridge devices and remain online and up to date.
• Neighbors would be able to pool coverage and cover larger areas inside and outside of their homes. Customers who own Bridge devices will be able to opt out.
• Amazon says three layers of encryption will keep shared data safe. The signals themselves are also encrypted.
• You can find a list of compatible devices here.

Deep Dive: Amazon Prime vs. Walmart+

Walmart has launched Walmart+, a subscription service intended to compete directly with Amazon Prime. Walmart Plus costs $21 less than Amazon’s $119 yearly subscription but requires a $35 purchase minimum for free delivery. In this feature, we take a look at this latest battlefront in the ongoing war between Amazon and Walmart for e-commerce supremacy...

Amazon has taken down listings for muscle-building injectable peptides, some of which are considered “doping drugs” by the World Anti-Doping Agency. A new Markup report describes how sellers skirted an Amazon policy banning injectable drugs by labeling the peptides for scientific use.

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• The performance-enhancing drugs, which are synthetic versions of naturally-occurring peptides in the body, can reportedly build muscle and heal injuries.
• At least 66 such listings have appeared on Amazon since August. While they were ostensibly sold for "research" or "lab" purposes, reviews and questions on the listings showed customers were injecting them into their bodies.
• Amy Eichner of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said the drugs can mess with hormones, causing long-term impacts like hormone suppression, growth rate changes, and infertility. Dr. Rand McClain, a sports medicine physician, says many peptides sold online have suspect sourcing and purity. "Amazon needs to do a better job," McClain said.
• The peptides were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Amazon says it recently removed the listings "out of an abundance of caution," months after saying it would crack down on such listings.

Amazon is acquiring aging aircraft to expand its air cargo fleet, which could make it harder for the company to meet climate pledges. A Bloomberg report describes how the company leases converted Boeing 767s, which have higher emissions and use more fuel than newer jets. This could make it difficult for Amazon to meet pledges, like its vow to make half of its shipments net zero carbon by 2030.

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• Amazon leased a dozen more 767s in June. It now operates at least 68 jets in the U.S., which have an average age of ~26 years compared to UPS' 20 years, FedEx's 23 years, and Lufthansa AG’s 11 years.
• While using older planes for freight can make economic sense, "it may not be a great case for the environment," said UCL Energy Institute professor Andreas Schafer. A 16-year-old 767, for example, is about one-third the price of a new one.
• Amazon Air has been making more flights to meet increased demand during the pandemic. It operated 38% more U.S. flights in the first six months of 2020 than the same time last year.
• Bloomberg notes that cargo planes fly significantly fewer hours per day than commercial jets.
• In related news, Amazon's lofty goal to zero out its carbon footprint by 2040 faces many hurdles, including the lack of a specific plan.

According to Collider, Harry Styles is currently in talks to star in a feature adaptation of the Bethan Roberts novel "My Policeman" for Amazon Studios. The story, set in England in the 1950s, revolves around a love affair between two men who hide their relationship to avoid social scrutiny.

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• Styles would play Tom, a policeman who's attracted to museum curator Patrick, but nonetheless marries schoolteacher Marion to keep up appearances.
• The story involves a flashback structure, looking back on the affair after the characters have aged.
• Lily James is in negotiations to play Marion.
• Michael Grandage ("Genius") will direct; Ryan Nyswaner ("Philadelphia") wrote the adaptation.
• Styles will next be seen in the thriller "Don't Worry, Darling" from director Olivia Wilde.

QUICK HITS

• Amazon acknowledged that it donated to the campaign of Tennessee state Rep. Susan Lynn, a known QAnon conspiracy theory promoter, last year, but does not plan on donating again.
• Amazon hasn't said what it will reveal at its fall Alexa hardware event, which takes place at 1 p.m. ET Sept. 24. Last year, it unveiled a third-gen Echo speaker, Echo Studio speaker, Echo Show 8 smart display, and Echo Frames glasses.
• Uber has hired Sukumar Rathnam, Amazon's former selection and catalog systems VP, as its new chief technology officer.
• Amazon announced it made an investment in Tesla co-founder JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials, one of five entities in which Amazon has invested more than $2b this year as a part of its "Climate Pledge Fund."
• BJ's Wholesale Club is outpacing Amazon, as well as Costco and Sam's Club, in sales growth.
• Amazon released trailers for four new original horror movies, all produced by Blumhouse, which will hit Prime Video throughout October.
• Brands see 18.5% of e-commerce revenue from SMS marketing. See 6 top SMS campaigns here.* 

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