Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
SAN JOSE – Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiring to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash, Inc., a San Francisco-based delivery company.
Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, Calif., and three other defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2024. Devagiri was charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. He pleaded guilty to that count today.
In pleading guilty, Devagiri admitted to working with others in 2020 and 2021 to cause DoorDash to pay for deliveries that never occurred. At the time, Devagiri was a delivery driver for DoorDash orders. Under the scheme, Devagiri used customer accounts to place high value orders and then, using an employee’s credentials to gain access to DoorDash software, manually reassigned DoorDash orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. Devagiri then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered, when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash’s computer systems to prompt DoorDash to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the non-existent deliveries. Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from “delivered” status to “in process” status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again. This procedure usually took less than five minutes, and was repeated hundreds of times for many of the orders.
The scheme resulted in fraudulent payments exceeding $2.5 million.
Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani made the announcement.
Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted for his role in this conspiracy. Co-defendant Manaswi Mandadapu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on May 6, 2025. Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn, who was separately charged, pleaded guilty on Nov. 7, 2023.
Devagiri is next scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman for a status hearing on Sept. 16, 2025. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael G. Pitman is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Sahib Kaur. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.