FTC reverses its request for a delay in an Amazon trial, says it has resources to litigate the case

The Federal Trade Commission has walked back comments that a lack of resources is interfering with the agency’s ability to be ready for a September trial over Amazon’s Prime program.

Jonathan Cohen, a lawyer for the FTC, had asked a federal judge during a hearing on Wednesday to delay the trail and relax deadlines in the case, citing budgetary and staffing shortfalls.

But the agency made an about-face later in the day, telling U.S. District Judge John Chun in a letter submitted in court that the statements Cohen made were incorrect.

“I want to clarify comments I made today: I was wrong,” Cohen wrote in the letter. “The Commission does not have resource constraints and we are fully prepared to litigate this case.”

In a statement sent to the AP on Thursday, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson also said “the attorney was wrong.”

“I have made it clear since Day One that we will commit the resources necessary for this case,” Ferguson said, adding that his agency “will never back down from taking on Big Tech.”

Cohen’s comments were made amid large-scale cost-cutting efforts across the federal government driven by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Cohen said some employees chose to leave the FTC following the “Fork in the road” email sent by the administration in January. Staff members who resigned for other reasons also have not been replaced due to a government hiring freeze, he said.

The trial is the result of a lawsuit the commission filed in 2023 accusing Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately reply for comment.