DoorDash Driver Stole Over $2.5M From Company: Authorities

CALIFORNIA — A DoorDash driver pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to conspiring to steal more than $2.5 million from the San Francisco-based company, according to authorities.

Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, and three other defendants were indicted by a grand jury in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, with Devagiri facing the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, of which he pleaded guilty.

Devagiri worked with others in 2020 and 2021 to cause the company to pay for deliveries that never happened by placing expensive orders through customer accounts and then using employee credentials to access DoorDash software, authorities said.

Devagiri would manually reassign orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, report the orders were delivered when they weren’t and manipulate the company’s computer systems to prompt DoorDash to pay the driver accounts, according to the department. He would then change the status of the orders from “delivered” to “in process” and reassign them to other fraudulent driver accounts, starting the process again, authorities said, adding the whole thing typically took under five minutes and was repeated hundreds of times for many orders.

Devagiri’s next hearing is set for Sept. 16, according to the department, which said he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.