BOSTON (WWLP) - A man from Dracut was sentenced to prison for a fraud scheme involving online sales of cosmetics. The Department of Justice in Boston said 23-year-old Nick Ashtar-Zadeh along with his brother operated Amazon and eBay “stores” that offered various products for sale, including t he products of a cosmetics company in Texas between 2019 and 2021. The scheme involved selling these products at or below the company’s list prices. The brothers enrolled the buyers in the company’s 30-day trial program for the same products without their knowledge which would cause the company to ship its products to those buyers for a trial period. Boston Celtics sold for largest amount ever in sports franchise history During the enrollment for these orders, the Ashtar-Zadeh brothers fulfilled initial charges of $19.95 to the company. Once the buyers kept the products past 30 days, they declined the company's attempt to charge later installments. Hundreds of buyers on Amazon and eBay were sold products by the brothers who each time pocketed the difference between what the buyers paid them and the initial $19.95 upfront payment to the company. As a result, cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. In September 2024, Nick Ashtar-Zadeh and his brother Nika Ashtar-Zadeh were charged with carrying out this scheme to obtain products from an online cosmetics company through fraud and to resell those products on Amazon and eBay for a profit. They both pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Nick Ashtar-Zadeh was sentenced to six months in prison, 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 scheduled to be sentenced on May 21st. Local News Headlines Massachusetts audit reveals $2M state benefits fraud, SNAP leads Beverly police recover $21,000 for senior victims of Bitcoin schemes Vehicle for missing New Hampshire woman found in Massachusetts West Side Creamy Cones opening second location in Chicopee WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com. ...read more read less