President-elect Joe Biden speaks ahead of the Queen Theater holiday on December 22, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden spoke before the Christmas holiday and began the $ 900 billion coronavirus bill approved by Congress on Monday, insisting on further economic relief after the inauguration.
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The brother of one of the closest aides to President-elect Joe Biden has just chosen Amazon as a new customer.
Jeff Ricchetti, brother of Biden’s White House adviser, Steve Ricchetti, recently secured a lobbying contract with Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud platform and subsidiary of the technology giant, according to a new lobby disclosure report .
The report shows that Ricchetti signed up to lobby for Amazon Web Services on November 13, just a week after Biden’s projection defeated President Donald Trump. Ethics attorneys previously told CNBC that Steve Ricchetti, who has also been a lobbyist for over a decade, may have to refrain from issues that could impact his brother’s clients.
A person familiar with the brothers’ relationship said that they keep their professional lives entirely separate and that Jeff Ricchetti would never pressure Steve Ricchetti.
“Jeff has never and will never lobby his brother on behalf of any of his clients, and Steve has had no role in his brother’s business since he sold his stake in the company in 2012,” the source told CNBC. “Steve and Jeff keep their professional activities distinctly separate.” This person did not want to be identified because the relationship is private.
Biden’s stance on Amazon included calls for the company to start paying its taxes.
“I don’t think any company, I don’t give a damn how big they are, Lord Almighty, should absolutely be in a position where they don’t pay taxes and make billions and billions and billions of dollars, No. 1 , “Biden said during a” Squawk Box “interview in May.
The disclosure report shows that Jeff Ricchetti will lobby Amazon on issues related to the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of the CARES Act. Amazon appears to be on the verge of expanding its healthcare business, known as Amazon Care.
The Amazon customer is the latest to Ricchetti since Biden was the projected winner of the 2020 election.
Ricchetti also signed up to lobby for Evofem Biosciences on November 15. Days after officially starting work for Amazon. Ricchetti will focus on “federal health policies regarding coverage of contraceptive services” for Evofem, according to the lobby’s disclosure report.
For Amazon, it is the latest move to start preparing silently for the next Biden administration.
Reuters reported that two employees of the e-commerce company are working on the Biden agency review team. Amazon executives are reportedly pushing allies into positions within the Biden administration.
During the Trump administration, Amazon hired people close to the president for lobbying. One of those lobbyists was Jeff Miller, a longtime fundraiser for the Trump campaign.
Amazon and Jeff Ricchetti did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.