Bloomberg Bloomberg Getty images
The Federal Trade Commission asked the judge in Seattle to delay the start of the trial, accusing Amazon Cheating consumers to register the Prime program, citing resource restrictions.
FTC lawyers submitted a request during the status hearing on Wednesday before judge John Chune in the American District Court for the Western Washington district. Chun set the start date of September 22 for the trial.
Jonathan Cohen, FTC lawyer, asked Chun for a two -month continuation of the case due to personnel and budget deficiencies.
FTC's request appears among the pursuit of the Trump Administration Government Department in order to reduce expenses. Dog, led by Tech Baron Elon Musk, reduced the working power of the federal government For over 62,000 employees in February alone.
“We lost employees in the agency, in our department and in our team,” said Cohen.
Chun asked Cohen how the FTC situation would be different in two months, “whether the agency is now in crisis when it comes to resources.” Cohen replied, saying that “he could not guarantee if everything would not be even worse.” He pointed to the possibility of “unexpectedly”, which can “unexpectedly” move to another office, which may hinder his ability to prepare for the process.
“But there are many reasons to judge … We could survive him, at least for a moment,” said Cohen.
John Hueston, Amazon lawyer, questioned Cohen's request to push away the date of the hearing.
“In this call, it has not been shown that the government has no resources to go to the trial on the date of the trial, as it was now established,” said Heston. “I heard that the whole trial syndrome is still intact. Maybe there will be office traffic. By the way, both in the government and private sectors, I have never heard of moving an office that was more than a few days.
FTC sued Amazon In June 2023, claiming that the online seller cheats millions of customers to sign up for their Prime program and sabotage his attempts to cancel it.
“Amazon deceived and imprisoned people in repetitive subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users, but also cost their significant money,” said former chairwoman of FTC FTC Lina Khan.
FTC brought a separate matter Against Amazon in September 2023, accusing him of wielding an illegal monopoly. The agency claimed that Amazon prevents sellers from offering cheaper prices in a different place through their counteracting. This case is to go to the trial In October 2026.
At a time when FTC submitted his affairs, Khan was replaced as the head of FTC by the denomator Trump Andrew Ferguson. Technology companies, which are the target of several regulatory agencies, tried Curry Favor at Trump, including the founder of Amazon and chairman Jeff Bezos. He participated in the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, and Amazon was one of several technology companies to transfer $ 1 million to the Trump inaugural committee.
TO WATCH: The chairman of Trump FTC tells general directors that he will fall apart
