FTC Says It Has Resources To Pursue Amazon Case, In Major U-Turn

An attorney for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has performed a complete u-turn – presumably on the orders from an angry Trump administration.

Earlier this week Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, had asked a federal court in Seattle to delay a September trial in its case alleging Amazon misled consumers over its Prime subscription service, citing “severe resource shortfalls in terms of both money and personnel.”

Cohen had asked for a two-month continuance. “We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen told US District Judge John Chun.

“Severe resource shortfalls”

Judge Chun then asked Cohen how the FTC’s situation “will be different in two months” if the agency is “in crisis now, as far as resources.”

Cohen responded by saying that he “cannot guarantee if things won’t be even worse.”

Elon Musk and DOGE are currently axing the federal workforce (62,000 federal workers were fired in February alone), despite the wages of federal employees accounting for between 5 to 15 percent of the federal budget.

Cohen also pointed to the possibility that the FTC may have to move to another office “unexpectedly,” which could hamper its ability to prepare for the trial.

DOGE and Elon Musk had last week put the FBI headquarters and other buildings housing federal agencies up for possible sale, before taking the list down.

And some federal employees on the case took a resignation offer sent out in January, and others resigned for other reasons, or are scheduled to be on leave during the trial, and their positions cannot be filled due to a hiring freeze, Cohen reportedly said.

Cohen also reportedly cited new spending restrictions limiting FTC attorneys to purchasing transcripts of court proceedings and depositions on the slowest delivery schedule, which carries the cheapest rate but can take weeks to arrive.

FTC u-turn

But on the Wednesday the FTC suddenly said it does not need to delay the September trial against Amazon.

CNBC reported that FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen said he was wrong about the lack of resources, in a statement addressed to US District Judge John Chun in Seattle.

“The commission does not have resource constraints and we are fully prepared to litigate this case,” FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen apparently wrote in a letter. “Please be assured that the FTC will meet whatever schedule and deadlines the court sets.”

Meanwhile FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson (a Trump appointee) confirmed that Cohen’s initial delay request had been wrong.

“I have made it clear since Day One that we will commit the resources necessary for this case,” Ferguson told CNBC. “The Trump-Vance FTC will never back down from taking on Big Tech.”

An FTC spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the agency is no longer requesting a delayed start date for the trial.

Amazon declined to comment, CNBC noted.

Prime lawsuit

The FTC had sued Amazon in June 2023 over allegations it “knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime”.

The FTC had accused the e-commerce giant of using “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions.”

The FTC also publicly named three senior Amazon executives, who it alleged took part in the “years-long effort to enroll consumers into its Prime program without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their Prime subscriptions.”

In October 2023 Amazon defended itself against the FTC allegations, and asked a US judge in Seattle to dismiss the FTC lawsuit that it said “fails in its entirety.”

The FTC has also brought a separate case against Amazon in September 2023 accusing it of wielding an illegal monopoly.

The US agency alleged that Amazon prevents sellers from offering cheaper prices elsewhere through its anti-discounting measures.

That case is set to go to trial in October 2026.