ABC News reports exclusively that Common Cause is taking action against Cambridge Analytica for allegedly knowing foreign nationals could not play pivotal roles in U.S. political campaigns and doing so anyway.
Government watchdog group Common Cause Monday filed a pair of legal complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Department of Justice accusing Cambridge Analytica LTD, its parent company SCL Group Limited, CEO Alexander Nix, SCL co-founder Nigel Oakes, data scientist Alexander Tayler, and former employee-turned-whistleblower Christopher Wylie of violating federal election laws that prohibit foreigners from participating directly or indirectly in the decision-making process of U.S. political campaigns.
The defendants are all non-U.S. citizens, according to the complaints.
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The complaints cite a New York Times report of an alleged memo dated July 22, 2014 from lawyer Laurence Levy, then at the firm Bracewell & Giuliani, to GOP megadonor Rebekah Mercer, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and the now-suspended Nix. The memo warns them that foreign nationals “may not play strategic roles” in U.S. political campaigns, including giving “strategic advice,” but that foreigners can still “act as functionaries that collect and process data” as long as the final analysis of that data is conducted by U.S. citizens.
Levy suggested at the time that as a foreign national, Nix should recuse himself “from substantive management” of clients involved in U.S. elections, according to the complaints.
The legal filings allege that Cambridge Analytica and its executives ignored Levy’s advice and allowed foreigners to be involved in “management decisions of U.S. political committee clients concerning expenditures and disbursements during the 2014 and 2016 elections.”
Common Cause is calling for both the FEC and the Justice Department to investigate any potential election law violations and impose appropriate sanctions and restraints.
Three former Cambridge Analytica employees say the data firm "assigned dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014."
The assignments came amid efforts to present the newly created company as “an American brand” that would appeal to U.S. political clients even though its parent, SCL Group, was based in London, according to former Cambridge Analytica research director Christopher Wylie.
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Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group were overwhelmingly staffed by non-U.S. citizens — mainly Canadians, Britons and other Europeans — at least 20 of whom fanned out across the United States in 2014 to work on congressional and legislative campaigns, the three former Cambridge workers said.
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“Its dirty little secret was that there was no one American involved in it, that it was a de facto foreign agent, working on an American election,” Wylie said.
Read more: Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns (WaPo)
Exclusive: Cambridge Analytica accused of violating US election laws in new legal action (ABC News)
How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions (NYT)