The Federal Trade Commission asked a judge in Seattle to delay the start of its trial accusing Amazon of duping consumers into signing up for its Prime program, citing resource constraints.

Attorneys for the FTC made the request during a status hearing on Wednesday before Judge John Chun in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chun had set a Sept. 22 start date for the trial.

Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked Chun for a two-month continuance on the case due to staffing and budgetary shortfalls.

The FTC’s request comes amid a push by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to reduce spending. DOGE, which is led by tech baron Elon Musk, has slashed the federal government’s workforce by more than 62,000 workers in February alone.

“We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen said.

Chun asked Cohen how the FTC’s situation “will be different in two months” if the agency is “in crisis now, as far as resources.” Cohen responded by saying that he “cannot guarantee if things won’t be even worse.” He pointed to the possibility that the FTC may have to move to another office “unexpectedly,” which could hamper its ability to prepare for the trial.

“But there’s a lot of reason to believe … we may have been through the brunt of it, at least for a little while,” Cohen said.

John Hueston, an attorney for Amazon, disputed Cohen’s request to push back the trial date.

“There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set,” Hueston said. “What I heard is that they’ve got the whole trial team still intact. Maybe there’s going to be an office move. And by the way, both in government and private sector, I’ve never heard of an office move being more than a few days disruptive.”

The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023, alleging that the online retailer was deceiving millions of customers into signing up for its Prime program and sabotaging their attempts to cancel it. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing, calling the FTC’s claims “wrong on the facts and the law.”

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” former FTC Chair Lina Khan said at the time.

The FTC brought a separate case against Amazon in September 2023 accusing it of wielding an illegal monopoly. The agency alleged that Amazon prevents sellers from offering cheaper prices elsewhere through its anti-discounting measures. That case is set to go to trial in October 2026.

In the time since the FTC filed its cases, Khan has been replaced as the head of the FTC by Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson. Tech companies, which are the target of several regulatory agencies, have sought to curry favor with Trump, including Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos. He attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, and Amazon was among several tech companies to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee.

WATCH: Trump FTC Chair tells CEOs it will crack down on conduct or mergers that hurt Americans

Tesla shares rose for a second straight day in early trading Wednesday after the stock recorded its worst day since 2020 earlier in the week.

Shares were last up 8%, building on a 3.8% gain from Tuesday.

The electric vehicle stock plunged 15.4% on Monday for its worst session since September 2020 as investors sold popular technology shares and markets tumbled on rising recession fears and tariff uncertainty. The move pushed the Nasdaq to its worst day since 2022 and erased $750 billion in market value among the tech megacaps.

Tesla has tumbled in recent weeks, shedding more than 40% in market value since President Donald Trump took office. Shares rallied in the postelection Trump trade on bets that CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to the president would benefit the company.

Tariff concerns have added fuel to that fire as a potential trade war threatens two key supplier markets. That pushed the company to its longest weekly losing streak in its 15-year public market history.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk has become a key face of the new White House administration and close advisor of the president as he looks to reduce government spending, leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump said Tuesday he plans to buy a Tesla in support of Musk as Tesla locations around the country see protests and demonstrations.

Tesla has also dealt with brand erosion stemming from incendiary political rhetoric on Musk’s social media platform X. The platform suffered several outages on Monday. Meanwhile, Musk’s aerospace and defense company SpaceX is currently investigating two test flight explosions.

The company also faces a divided Wall Street, as bears point to rising EV competition, declining new vehicle deliveries and the effects of tariffs on the company’s near-term business. Bulls still have faith in Musk and his promise to unveil an affordable new model EV and start a driverless ride-hailing service later this year.

A recent investor survey found that 85% of respondents believed politics are hurting the company. Shares have lost more than a third in value since the start of the year.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed reporting.

Spotify is minting music millionaires.

Nearly 1,500 artists generated over $1 million in royalties from Spotify in 2024, the company said Wednesday in its annual Loud and Clear Report.

Spotify said more than 80% of the artists in that pool didn’t have a song reach the app’s Global Daily Top 50 chart.

“Spotify has helped level the playing field for artists at every stage of their careers,” read a portion of the report. “Success in the streaming era doesn’t require a decade-spanning catalog nor a chart-topping hit.”

The news comes about a month after the company reported a fourth-quarter earnings beat that saw the Swedish music streamer record its first full year of profitability. The company said it paid an all-time high of $10 billion in royalties to the music industry for the year.