The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked a Seattle judge to delay the start of its trial against Amazon, in which it accuses the company of misleading consumers into signing up for its Prime subscription service.
The request, made during a status hearing on Wednesday, comes as the agency faces staffing and budgetary constraints amid broader federal spending cuts.
US District Judge John Chun had previously set a September 22 trial date for the case.
However, FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen asked for a two-month continuance, citing recent workforce reductions that have affected the agency’s ability to prepare for the trial.
The request follows spending cuts from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by Elon Musk and has slashed over 62,000 federal jobs in February alone.
Cohen told the court that the FTC has lost employees across the agency, including within the division handling the Amazon case.
“We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen said.
Chun pressed Cohen on how the situation would be different in two months, given the agency’s current resource crisis.
Cohen acknowledged the uncertainty, saying, “I cannot guarantee if things won’t be even worse.”
He also noted that the FTC may face an unexpected office relocation, further complicating trial preparations.
However, he suggested that the worst of the workforce reductions may have already passed, giving the agency a better chance to proceed after a short delay.
Amazon opposes trial postponement
Amazon’s attorney, John Hueston, pushed back against the FTC’s request, arguing that the government had not provided sufficient justification for a delay.
“There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set,” Hueston said.
He pointed out that the FTC’s trial team remains intact and dismissed concerns about an office relocation, noting that such moves typically cause only minor disruptions.
FTC vs Amazon
The FTC initially filed its lawsuit against Amazon in June 2023, alleging that the e-commerce giant tricked millions of consumers into enrolling in its Prime subscription service while making the cancellation process difficult.
At the time, former FTC Chair Lina Khan said Amazon had “tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money.”
Khan is no longer the FTC chair and has been replaced by Andrew Ferguson, a Trump appointee.
The Prime subscription lawsuit is just one of the FTC’s legal battles against Amazon.
In September 2023, the agency filed a separate case accusing Amazon of maintaining an illegal monopoly by preventing sellers from offering lower prices on other platforms through restrictive pricing policies.
That antitrust case is scheduled to go to trial in October 2026.
The outcome of the FTC’s request to delay the Prime trial remains uncertain, with Judge Chun yet to rule on the matter.
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