British sting reveals how Trump's IT firm used sex workers and bribes to fix political races
By Mark Sumner Monday Mar 19, 2018 · 2:25 PM CDT
Cambridge Analytica's chief executive officer Alexander Nix
Britain’s Channel 4 conducted a lengthy sting operation on the strategic data firm that helped get Donald Trump elected. And what they found was a company that used sex, bribery and blackmail to get what they want.
Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica – the data company that credits itself with Donald Trump’s presidential victory – have been secretly filmed saying they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers. …
“We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land for instance, we’ll have the whole thing recorded, we’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the Internet.”
The problem for Nix, and for Trump’s friends at Cambridge Analytica, was that they were explaining how they stung candidates—to someone who was stinging them.
Offering bribes to public officials is an offence under both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Cambridge Analytica operates in the UK and is registered in the United States.
Cambridge Analytica was funded by the Mercers, on an idea by Steve Bannon. And it’s clear that Bannon’s attitude toward the law is all over the company.
Monday, Mar 19, 2018 · 3:00:06 PM CDT · Mark Sumner Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla
Wow. Britain's Information Officer announces she is seeking a warranting to raid Cambridge Analytica and seize servers 2:29 PM - Mar 19, 2018
The Channel 4 reporter approached Cambridge Analytica under the guise of a political consultant for candidates in Sri Lanka. Executives at CA met with him over a period of months, during which time they assured the reporter that they were skilled at fixing races all over the world.
Mr Nix told our reporter: “…we’re used to operating through different vehicles, in the shadows, and I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you.”
Try not so secret. But there may be a very long term in Nix’s future.
Cambridge Analytica was reportedly fighting to suppress release of the Channel 4 report. Apparently they lost that fight.
Note: This is just part two of a three part series. Part three is set to appear tomorrow.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.