Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy must testify in the Amazon Prime subscription case

The founder of amazonJeff Bezos, and the president of the firm, Andy Jassy, ​​will have to testify in the case about the subscription to Prime before the US Federal Trade Commission. or FTC despite the fact that they had requested that their statements be dismissed according to Dave Michaels in The Wall Street Journal.

“Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy cannot help but testify in an investigation related to the company’s Prime subscription program,” the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday night.

Last month, Amazon asked the FTC to cancel the subpoenas issued to Bezos and Jassy, ​​arguing that they do not know the details of Prime’s registration and cancellation processes., which is the focus of the investigation. FTC staff began the investigation in March 2021examining whether the company tricked customers into signing up for Prime and failed to provide an easy way to cancel recurring charges for the programaccording to the order issued Wednesday.

Amazon must largely comply with a June investigative lawsuit seeking information about other Amazon subscription programs, according to the FTC order. Amazon had objected to that request, saying it was too onerous and expansive.

The order sided with Amazon in one of its complaints. The order said that Covington & Burling LLP attorneys can represent both the company and individual employees. The FTC staff had objected to Covington’s dual role on behalf of the corporation and the employees who were called to testify about how Prime works.

Wednesday’s order was written by the Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson. Under the commission’s rules, companies or other targets of investigations may appeal to the five-member commission to limit or nullify staff information demands.

The three committee Democrats agreed with Wilson’s order, writing separately that the FTC staff’s attempt to limit Covington’s role was a reasonable interpretation of agency rules.. The other Republican member of the FTC, Noah Phillips, recused himself from the matter and did not vote on the order.

An Amazon spokesman said the company was “Disappointed but not surprised that the FTC largely refused to rule against her.” The spokesman said that Amazon had cooperated with the FTC investigation and already produced tens of thousands of pages of documents. “We remain concerned that the latest requests are too broad and unnecessarily burdensome, and we will explore all of our options,” the spokesman said.

The FTC Chair Lina Khan, Democrat, has criticized Amazon and other technology companies. Amazon had previously unsuccessfully sought to have Khan recuse himself from the investigation based on his earlier statements about the technology company.

The Democrats’ statement said the FTC may need to change its rules for investigations. “to address the potential for gambling and delay tactics that may impede critical investigations.”

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