Amazon Misled Congress, U.S. Lawmakers Say While Teasing Potential Criminal Probe

The House Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee is giving Amazon one last chance to tell the whole Sojourner Truth about its utilization of third - party sellers ’ information . Fool me once , shame on me … peradventure a bunch of other time , too , but this clock time , they ’re serious .

On Monday , five House Judiciary Committee memberspublished a letteraccusing executives , let in Amazon founder and Chairman Jeff Bezos , of possibly lie to Congress during an antimonopoly investigation , add that they ’re considering pertain this to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation . The letter was sent to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy , from Reps . Jerrold Nadler ( D - NY ) , David Cicilline ( D - RI ) , Ken Buck ( R - CO ) , Pramila Jayapal ( D - WA ) , and Matt Gaetz ( R - FL ) .

The missive refers to last week’sReuters reportshowing that the companionship had an explicit , detailed scheme to rend off third - party sellers in India , used their datum to streamline their own knockoffs , and prioritized its products in search results . Last yr in a House antitrust subcommitteehearing , Bezos did n’t deny those pattern but pass the buck to hypothetical bad worker within Amazon . “ What I can secernate you is we have a policy against using vendor - specific information to help our private - label business concern , ” he allege . “ But I ca n’t undertake you that policy has never been rape . ” Amazon ’s been stick to to that line — that the company has a policy , and it ’s potential that bad employees violate this policy . It ’s extremely ill-defined what would motivate an employee to violate company policy so as to help the company .

Photo: Graeme Jennings (Getty Images)

“ At best , this coverage confirms that Amazon ’s representatives misdirect the Committee , ” the letter posit . “ At worst , it demonstrates that they may have lie to Congress in possible intrusion of federal criminal law . ”

Committee members also maneuver to similar reputation fromthe Markup , theWall Street Journal , andthe Capitol Forum , stating that the reports “ are inconsistent with the sworn testimony and numerous statements made by Amazon ’s executives to the Committee during our investigation into Amazon ’s business practice last Congress . ” Amazon has denied finding in each report that Amazon use non - public , seller - specific data and below the belt supercharge its own stain .

In a statement shared with Gizmodo , an Amazon interpreter say outrightthat “ Amazon and its executives did not mislead the commission , and wehave denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate mediaarticles in enquiry . ” They added that Amazon ’s interior policy“prohibits the use of individual seller information to evolve Amazon privatelabel products ” and that Amazon investigates possible intrusion .

Jblclip5

Last twelvemonth , two U.S. lawmakersaccusedAmazon of lying to Congress after a Wall Street Journalreportfound that documents and employee interviews confirmed that the caller tapped third - company seller ’ information , which is believe private , for its own addition . The Journal noted that Amazon could utilize that data to name the most suitable product features or specify its price points .

That negate a 2019testimonyfrom Nate Sutton , Amazon ’s associate general counsel , who said that “ we do not use any seller data for — to compete with them . ” After that earreach , the lawgiver letter sent this week notes , Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky sent a letter doubling down , writing that Amazon “ prohibit[s ] in our secret recording label scheme the usage of data point related specifically to individual sellers ” and aggregated storehouse information on total sales agreement and search volume for categories and merchandise . ”

The lawmakers ’ letter notes that knowingly lie in a congressional probe and defecate perjurious statements under oath before Congress are federal offence . Amazon is also facing antitrust probe in the EU and India . Both have agreement with the U.S. allowing them to partake grounds related to potential antitrust trespass .

Ugreentracker