UPDATE 1-U.S. House panel refers Amazon to Justice Department amid competition probe

Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have referred Amazon.com Inc to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), alleging "potentially criminal conduct" by the company and some of its senior executives. In a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, the lawmakers said Amazon had engaged in a "pattern and practice of misleading conduct that suggests" it was acting with an improper purpose to influence or obstruct the panel's investigation into competition in digital markets. "We have no choice but to refer this matter to the Department of Justice to investigate whether Amazon and its executives obstructed Congress in violation of applicable federal law," stated the letter dated March 9. Read More...

(Adds details from letter, context, file photos)

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) – Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have referred Amazon.com Inc to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), alleging “potentially criminal conduct” by the company and some of its senior executives.

In a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, the lawmakers said Amazon had engaged in a “pattern and practice of misleading conduct that suggests” it was acting with an improper purpose to influence or obstruct the panel’s investigation into competition in digital markets.

“We have no choice but to refer this matter to the Department of Justice to investigate whether Amazon and its executives obstructed Congress in violation of applicable federal law,” stated the letter dated March 9.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The referral to the DOJ follows a previous warning from members of the U.S. committee in October in which they accused Amazon’s top executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, of either misleading Congress or possibly lying to it about Amazon’s business practices.

That letter had come days after a Reuters investigation showed that Amazon had conducted a systematic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to boost sales of its own brands – practices Amazon has denied engaging in.

The members had at the time stated the Reuters story and recent articles in several other news outlets “directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives – including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos.”

Amazon at the time said the company 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.”

In Wednesday’s letter to the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. lawmakers cited stories from various media outlets including Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Politico about the American e-commerce giant’s business practices.

They added that Amazon had declined several opportunities to demonstrate with evidence that it had made accurate and complete representations to the panel during its investigation.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Aditya Kalra Editing by Nick Zieminski)