#Amazon lawyer says Jeff Bezos is willing to appear before Congress

The richest man in the world is willing to testify before lawmakers probing anti-competitive business practices in Silicon Valley, according to reports.

In a letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal, attorneys for the e-commerce juggernaut pledged to make Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos “available to testify at a hearing with the other CEOs this summer,” ending a month-long stare-down between the two parties.

Bezos’ availability will be contingent on the two sides coming to an agreement on format and the House Judiciary Committee’s request for internal documents, according to the report.

The committee has sought Bezos’ testimony about allegations that Amazon uses data collected from third-party vendors to guide the creation of new products under its house brands.

The Wall Street Journal last month reported that Amazon would identify best-selling products from vendors in order to copy them and sell their own version. Based on the report, Amazon’s prior statements to Congress “appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious,” committee members wrote to Bezos.

The report is problematic for Amazon in part because the company has denied such practices.

Amazon associate general counsel Nate Sutton told Congress in July, “We don’t use individual seller data directly to compete.”

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Shares of Amazon were down 0.4 percent Monday afternoon, at $2,534.89.