President-elect Joe Biden speaks ahead of the holiday at the Queen Theater on December 22, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Speaking ahead of the Christmas holidays, Biden called the $ 900 billion coronavirus bill passed by Congress on Monday a start, pushing for more economic relief after the inauguration.
Joshua Roberts | Getty Images
The brother of one of President-elect Joe Biden’s closest advisers has just picked up Amazon as a new customer.
Jeff Ricchetti, brother of Biden’s White House adviser Steve Ricchetti, recently signed a lobbying contract with Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud platform and a subsidiary of the technology giant, according to a new lobbying disclosure report.
The report shows that Ricchetti registered to lobby for Amazon Web Services on Nov. 13, just a week after Biden was expected to defeat President Donald Trump. Ethics lawyers have previously told CNBC that Steve Ricchetti, who was also once a lobbyist more than a decade ago, may need to retire from matters that could affect his brother’s clients.
One person familiar with the brothers’ relationship said they keep their professional lives completely separate and Jeff Ricchetti would never lobby Steve Ricchetti.
“Jeff never has and will never lobby his brother on behalf of any of his clients, and Steve has not played a 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 clearly separate.” This person has declined the name because the relationship is private.
Biden’s stance on Amazon included calls to the company to pay their taxes.
“I don’t think a company, I don’t give a damn how big they are, the Almighty Lord, absolutely should 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 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 their healthcare business known as Amazon Care.
The Amazon customer is the latest for Ricchetti since Biden was the expected winner in the 2020 election.
Ricchetti also registered to lobby for Evofem Biosciences on Nov. 15, days after he officially started working for Amazon. Ricchetti will focus for Evofem on “federal health policies related to contraception coverage,” the lobbying disclosure report said.
For Amazon, it is the latest move to quietly start preparing for the incoming Biden administration.
Reuters reported that two officials from the e-commerce company work on the Biden agency’s review team. Amazon executives are reportedly pushing allies for roles within the Biden administration.
During the Trump administration, Amazon hired people close to the president for lobbying. One such lobbyist was Jeff Miller, who has been raising money for Trump’s campaign for a long time.
Amazon and Jeff Ricchetti have not responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.