Cambridge Analytica hired people who weren’t US citizens to work on American election campaigns, even though that’s against federal law-and they had been warned about the risks beforehand.
Back in July 2014, a lawyer sent a memo to Steve Bannon, then vice-president, British CEO Alexander Nix, and Rebekah Mercer, daughter of the billionaire owner Robert Mercer. The memo made it clear that most senior and mid-level jobs related to strategy, planning, fundraising, or campaigning had to be done by US citizens.
“Any decision maker must be a US citizen or green card holder,” the memo said. The Observer got hold of this memo which also included a short legal summary about cases where foreigners were involved in election campaigns. This was written by a lawyer from Rudy Giuliani’s firm.
“If you know foreign nationals are providing services like polling and marketing, unless it’s done through US citizens or foreign nationals with green cards, this would seem illegal.”
Steve Bannon, Cambridge Analytica’s vice-president, in Rome. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters
Since Cambridge Analytica was mainly run and staffed by Brits and Canadians-except for Bannon and Mercer at the top-it faced a big issue as it prepared to work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“The ban on foreigners managing campaigns or making decisions about spending campaign money will really affect how Cambridge hires staff and operates for now,” the memo said.
It even told Nix he needed to stop working on US elections. “For Cambridge to take part in such activities, Mr Nix must be kept away from any real management of clients involved in US elections,” it stated.
People working for Cambridge Analytica in the US at that time say instead of fixing the problem, management just ignored it.
“Mercer’s lawyer told us at one meeting that what we were doing wasn’t allowed,” said one non-American employee based there back then. “I don’t know if CA did anything after knowing this.”
Two workers said they still reported directly to Nix during mid-term election campaigns ending November 2014. Over a dozen foreigners-including Brits and Canadians-held strategic roles across various US campaigns.
“We were actually talking straight to voters in several states,” said one ex-worker who worked alongside others without citizenship or green cards.
Some reportedly worked using tourist visas. Another former employee said they got letters from the company to show border control officers saying they weren’t going to work there.
Robert Mercer, the owner of Cambridge Analytica. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images
“One colleague kept bringing up these issues so we were handed papers for immigration saying we weren’t really working here,” another former staff member explained. They added that since most workers were young people looking for adventure and independence while traveling-well-they just took what was offered without worrying much about legal stuff.
There weren’t any clear instructions given about what kind of tasks non-US citizens should avoid or warnings about legal dangers. “CA was careless and didn’t look out for its employees,” claimed one former worker.
Cambridge Analytica responded by saying it “follows FEC [Federal Election Commission] rules” and insisted Nix never led any work on American election campaigns.
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“He has never had any strategic or operational role on any US election campaign,” their spokesperson said. They also claimed “all CA staff in strategic positions were either US nationals or green card holders who directed non-strategic workers”.
The legal note also warned them they’d have to carefully separate teams working on individual state races or specific candidates from those linked with super-PACs (political action committees) supporting these campaigns.
These super-PACs can spend unlimited money but aren’t allowed to coordinate with candidates directly.
Levy pointed out that teams doing real work for two or more groups not allowed to coordinate would need strict separation.
The Campaign Legal Center-a group focused on fair politics-has accused Cambridge Analytica of illegal coordination like this.
They’ve given evidence to the FEC claiming super-PAC Make America Number 1 illegally helped Trump’s campaign through shared use of Cambridge Analytica as their vendor.
Cambridge Analytica denied these claims stating they have strict firewall policies signed by all staff members which are enforced seriously.
“Where firewalls exist staff are physically separated; use separate databases and servers; and are prevented from communicating with each other,” a spokesman said.
“The accusations of the Campaign Legal Center are based on conjecture, tabloid stories, and hearsay that attempted to mischaracterise FEC filings where Cambridge Analytica publicly declared our non-coordinated work for different entities.”
Bannon, Mercer and Nix did not reply when asked about this legal memo or how things ran during the 2016 presidential race.
The Observer
The Observer is the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper founded way back in 1791. It’s published by Guardian News & Media but operates completely independently when it comes to editorial choices.
