House panel refers Amazon to DOJ amid competition probe

(Reuters) — Five members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have asked the Department of Justice to investigate Amazon.com Inc. for “potentially criminal conduct” by the company and some of its senior executives.

In a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, the bipartisan group of lawmakers said Amazon had engaged in a “pattern and practice of misleading conduct that suggests” it was acting with an improper purpose to influence or obstruct the panel’s investigation into competition in digital markets.

“We have no choice but to refer this matter to the Department of Justice to investigate whether Amazon and its executives obstructed Congress in violation of applicable federal law,” stated the letter dated March 9.

In response, an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement: “There’s no factual basis for this, as demonstrated in the huge volume of information we’ve provided over several years of good faith cooperation with this investigation.”

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Wednesday’s letter to the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. lawmakers cited stories from various media outlets including Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Politico about Amazon’s business practices.

They added that Amazon had declined several opportunities to demonstrate with evidence that it had made accurate and complete representations to the panel during its investigation.

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