FTC Asks Judge to Delay Amazon Prime Trial, Citing ‘Severe’ DOGE Cuts

Elon Musk and President Trump’s push to lay off federal workers may jeopardize the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Amazon. 

The FTC accuses Amazon of using deceptive marketing practices for its Prime subscription. A trial was set to begin in September, but on Wednesday, an FTC attorney asked the judge to postpone that by two months, citing recent staff cuts, according to the Associated Press.  

“Our resource constraints are severe and really unique to this moment,” FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen reportedly said during the status update. “We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on the case team.”

Cohen also said recent cuts to the federal workforce have led to probationary staff members being laid off and other employees to resign. Cohen couldn’t guarantee the situation would improve if given a two-month delay, but he added: “There are a lot of reasons to believe … we have been through the brunt of it, at least for a while.”

The news raises concern that Musk-led budget cuts to federal government will derail efforts to regulate the US’ largest tech companies. In 2023, the FTC launched its lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant deliberately “duped” millions of US consumers into signing up for a Prime subscription through various design tricks on its website.

“Amazon also knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers who sought to end their membership,” former FTC Chair Lina Khan said at the time. 

Although Amazon has denied the allegations, the case could result in refunds for affected consumers if the FTC prevails.

The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the agency’s new chair, Andrew Ferguson, reportedly told a group of business CEOs that the US regulator will still closely scrutinize mergers and acquisitions. “The last thing we want are monopolies [that] slow innovation, slow growth and injure American consumers,” he said, according to Axios.

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