A Texas cosmetics company’s 30-day trial for its $200 products became a money-making scheme for two Massachusetts men, allowing them to profit thousands of dollars.
The Dracut brothers, Nick Ashtar-Zadeh and Nika Ashtar-Zadeh, each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2024.
Between 2019 and 2021, the two brothers operated Amazon and eBay stores that offered various products for sale, including the products of a cosmetics company in Texas, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said.
The Ashtar-Zadehs offered the company’s products on these platforms for one-time payments that were typically equal to or below the company’s list prices for the same products. They’d then enroll the buys in the company’s 30-day trial program without the customers’ knowledge.
The company would ship its products to those buyers for a trial period and the brothers would pay the initial $19.95. The brothers, officials said, would pocket the difference between the sold price and that of the trial.
However, if the customer didn’t return the product to the company they were supposed to be charged again with monthly installments totaling the price of the product. But when the companies went to make those charges, the charges were declined.
“As a result of the conduct, the Ashtar-Zadehs cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Foley’s office said in a press release.
Nick Ashtar-Zadeh was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick to six months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $181,806 in restitution and forfeiture of $111,156.
Nika Ashtar-Zadeh is expected to be sentenced on May 21.
