House panel refers Amazon to DOJ

Bipartisan members of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday referred Amazon to the Department of Justice, saying it sought to stymie their investigation into competition within the tech industry.

In a 24-page letter, the lawmakers accused the company of misleading and stonewalling the committee.

“Without producing any evidence to the contrary, Amazon has left standing what appear to be false and misleading statements to the Committee. It has refused to turn over business documents or communications that would either corroborate its claims or correct the record,” the members wrote.

The lawmakers said Amazon lied and attempted to block the investigation in an effort to “conceal the truth” about how the company uses third-party sellers’ data to help boost its own products in its own search results.