Financial Times Reports Cambridge Analytica CEO of Stealing $8 Million
- Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix has been accused of embezzling $8 Million.
- The theft was reported to have committed right before the company was shut down after filing for bankruptcy.
- The CEO apparently stole the money when the investigations of the Cambridge Analytica scandal began.
Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix has been accused of embezzling $8 Million during the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal investigations began. The company was shut down after filing for bankruptcy, and the former CEO apparently stole $8 million once officials from the FBI and Department of Justice started investigating the data breach scandal.
Investors wanted the data firm to relaunch itself and rebrand it for a fresh start, which led to the backers claiming Nix embezzled the money. With investors having full knowledge of financials, there may be merit to the claims. The investors may take the matter to court, leading to not only a data breach lawsuit filed against the company but also a new case of fraud. As of now, the investors have not moved court against the CEO.
Despite Cambridge Analytica shutting down, investigations of the data breach scandal are still ongoing with the former CEO of the firm set to appear in front of the UK Parliament today. Over 87 million Facebook users had their data illegally sold by the data firm to third parties. Cambridge Analytica started collecting Facebook data from 2014 as part of political campaigns for US politicians who sought the services of the data firm.
The data was used to influence voter opinions, and Facebook was unaware of the situation until recently. One of the Cambridge Analytica employees turned whistleblower and leaked information about the data collection practices and what the collected data was used for. The scandal led to widespread conversations about the ethical standards of social media companies and other online services that actively collect our data. Politicians have also been criticized for purchasing private information and using them for tools of widespread propaganda. Multiple government policies have been formed since then to protect the privacy of personal data including the European GDPR policy and UK’s data privacy laws that have gone into effect already.