The Federal Trade Commission asked a federal court in Seattle to delay a September trial in its case alleging Amazon misled consumers over its Prime subscription service, citing “severe resource shortfalls in terms of both money and personnel,” on Wednesday.
Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, told US District Judge John Chun during a hearing that the agency is facing a “dire resource situation” amid cost cutting measures enacted under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen said.
Some employees on the case took a resignation offer sent out in January, and others resigned for other reasons, or are scheduled to be on leave during the trial, and their positions cannot be filled due to a hiring freeze, Cohen said.
Cohen also cited new spending restrictions limiting FTC attorneys to purchasing transcripts of court proceedings and depositions on the slowest delivery schedule, which carries the cheapest rate but can take weeks to arrive.
The judge asked the FTC to put in writing its request to delay the trial to later in the fall.