DID AMAZON VIOLATE FEDERAL LAWS? LAWMAKERS ASK FOR DOJ PROBE

Lawmakers followed through Wednesday on their threat to seek a criminal investigation of Amazon, asking the Justice Department to investigate whether the tech giant and senior executives obstructed Congress or violated other federal laws in testimony on its competition practices.

The House Judiciary Committee escalated the bipartisan battle against the world's biggest online retailer with a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland referring the case for a criminal inquiry.

Amazon engaged in misleading conduct that appeared designed to "influence, obstruct or impede" the antitrust subcommittee's 2019-20 investigation into the market dominance of Big Tech, the letter says.

As an example, it cited testimony by a senior Amazon official maintaining that the company doesn't use the data it collects on third-party merchants on its platform to compete with them, and doesn't list its own products in customer search results before those of third parties. Those assertions have been contradicted by credible news reports, the letter says.

News reports have detailed Amazon's alleged practice of undercutting the businesses that sell on its platform by making “knock-offs," or very similar products, and boosting their presence on the site.

"Amazon attempted to clean up the inaccurate testimony through ever-shifting explanations of its internal policies and denials of the investigative reports," the lawmakers said. "The committee uncovered evidence from former Amazon employees, and former and current sellers, that corroborated the reports' claims."

"After Amazon was caught in a lie and repeated misrepresentations, it stonewalled the committee's efforts to uncover the truth," the letter says. It was signed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the antitrust subcommittee.