On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission requested a federal judge to postpone a trial concerning allegations against Amazon for employing deceptive methods in its Prime subscription service, attributing the need for a delay to staffing and budgetary constraints faced by the agency.
FTC lawyer Jonathan Cohen presented this request to U.S. District Judge John Chun, who is managing the legal proceedings stemming from a lawsuit filed against Amazon in Washington state in 2023.
“Our resource limitations are significant and quite exceptional at this juncture,” Cohen stated during a status hearing on Wednesday. “We have experienced employee losses within the agency, our division, and the case team.”
When the judge inquired if the agency’s difficulties were linked to recent federal budget cuts, Cohen affirmed this, explaining that certain employees had opted to leave the FTC following the “Fork in the road” email released by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in January. He also noted that staff resignations for other reasons have gone unaddressed due to a government hiring freeze.
The trial against Amazon was originally set to commence in September. The FTC is aiming to alleviate some of the case deadlines and seeks a delay equivalent to a two-month extension. “We don’t intend to push the trial back beyond a couple of months,” Cohen clarified.
Currently, the agency’s legal team is “racing at considerable cost” to meet a late April deadline for discovery while grappling with strict regulations on the acquisition of court documents and travel, Cohen elaborated.
Additional challenges may impede the staff’s trial preparations, as, in April, FTC employees will need to devote time to packing and vacating their current office to potentially relocate to “an abandoned USAID facility,” Cohen highlighted.
Judge Chun queried how the situation would differ in two months considering the agency’s ongoing issues.
Cohen replied that he “cannot assure that conditions won’t worsen.”
“However, there are several reasons to be optimistic… we have likely endured the bulk of the challenges, at least for the moment,” he added.
During the hearing, John Hueston, representing Amazon, countered the agency’s request, asserting that most attorneys working on the Amazon case remained at the FTC.
Even acknowledging staff turnover, Hueston contended that the government lacked sufficient grounds for a delay, as legal team changes are commonplace. He stated that Amazon executives and trial lawyers have already adjusted their schedules for a September trial, emphasizing the company’s desire to clear its name, which has been a goal for over two years.
“We are very much in favor of retaining the trial date,” Hueston stated.
Amazon Prime Enrollment
The lawsuit, initiated under former FTC Chair Lina Khan, accused Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without consent and complicating the cancellation process.
This case was filed several months prior to an antitrust lawsuit against the retail and technology firm, alleging monopolistic control over online markets. The legal arguments for this antitrust case, scheduled for trial in October 2026, were presented in court last week.
Like many tech firms, Amazon has been working to cultivate better relations with former President Donald Trump, who frequently criticized the company during his presidency.
In December, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos expressed his “optimism” regarding Trump’s second term. That same month, the company announced its intention to contribute $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Bezos, along with other technology leaders, also attended the inauguration.
This week, Amazon’s Prime Video service began streaming “The Apprentice,” the long-standing reality show that elevated Trump’s public profile prior to his presidential run. The company is also producing a documentary that offers an “unprecedented behind-the-scenes look” at first lady Melania Trump.
Meanwhile, Bezos has implemented changes at The Washington Post, which he owns, that some critics argue are favorable to Trump.
Before the election, Bezos defended the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “correct” and “principled,” dismissing speculation that he influenced the non-endorsement to protect his business interests.
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