Video of data firm CEO exposes ethics breaches

Shady election tactics denied by Trump promoter

A British television station broadcast video Monday apparently showing the head of the data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, talking about using bribes, traps involving sex workers and other unethical tactics to swing elections around the world.

The broadcast by Channel 4 News offered no evidence that such methods were used during Cambridge Analytica’s work for the Trump campaign, which paid the firm at least $6 million.

But the broadcast sparked a fresh round of questions about a company already embroiled in controversy about its use of personal information from tens of millions of Facebooks users — the vast majority of whom had no idea their names, likes and work histories had been collected for political purposes.

The report, which the Washington Post has not independently confirmed, relied on surreptitious video recordings of Alexander Nix, the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, claiming to have used “a web of shadowy front companies” in pursuit of winning elections.

The company on Monday disputed the report and others published over the weekend about the company’s use of massive troves of Facebook data.

Cambridge Analytica responded in a statement quoted by Channel 4 News, saying, “We entirely refute any allegation that Cambridge Analytica or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes, or socalled “honey-traps” for any purpose whatsoever … We routinely undertake conversations with prospective clients to try to tease out any unethical or illegal intentions.”

According to the video posted by Channel 4 News, Nix appears to suggest the company could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house.” He later added that he favored Ukrainian women in particular: “They are very beautiful; I find that works very well.”

The recorded video also appears to depict conversations involving Nix, Mark Turnbull, managing director of Cambridge Analytica Political Global, and Alex Tayler, the chief data officer. The Channel 4 News team reportedly told the company officials they were meeting with a “fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get candidates elected in Sri Lanka.”

The executives repeatedly appear to brag about their behind-the-scenes efforts to influence political outcomes in Mexico, Australia and Kenya, at one point teasing that they’re beginning to work in China, too.

Elizabeth Denham, Britain’s information commissioner, whose office has been conducting a widespread investigation, which started last year, into data analytics and political profiling, said she would be applying for a warrant to access Cambridge Analytica’s databases and servers.