Amazon Accused of Lying to Congress

Five members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee accused top Amazon executives of misleading or lying to Congress about the company's business practices.

Reps. Jerrold Nadler, David Cicilline, Ken Buck, Pramila Jayapal and Matt Gaetz sent a letter to CEO Andy Jassy on Sunday, making the accusation and noting that the committee is considering "whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate."

The letter came after a separate Reuters investigation from last week which revealed Amazon had conducted a systemic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India in an effort to boost its own brands.

Amazon denied doing so.

The report's "credible reporting," according to the letter reviewed by Reuters, "directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon's top executives -- including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos."

They wrote, "At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon's representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law."

The group of five lawmakers, which is bipartisan, provided Jassy "with a final opportunity to provide exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee."

An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters, "Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question."