On Monday, October 18, members of US House Judiciary committee wrote to Amazon’s chief executive and accused the company’s top executives of misleading Congress about Amazon’s business practices, reported Reuters.
This letter letter stated that the committee is considering “whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate.”
The letter addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy following a Reuters investigation last week that showed that the company had conducted a systematic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to boost sales of its own brands – practices Amazon has denied engaging in. Jassy, a longtime Amazon executive, succeeded Bezos in July.
The letter states that “credible reporting” in the Reuters story and recent articles in several other news outlets “directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives – including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos.”
“At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon’s representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law,” the letter stated. Reuters reviewed a copy of the letter.
An Amazon spokesperson issued a statement that said “Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question.”
They added, “As we have previously stated, we have an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer’s policy that we’re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products. We investigate any allegations that this policy may have been violated and take appropriate action.”
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