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posted by janrinok on Monday May 21 2018, @06:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the right,-let's-go-to-the-bar dept.

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

"It has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."

Cambridge Analytica LLC, the American arm of the London-based data analytics firm of the same name, filed for bankruptcy in federal court in New York on Friday.

The company submitted a voluntary formal petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy—liquidation. That document reveals the company has between $1 and $10 million in debt with very little assets. On May 2, SCL Elections Ltd. and its other British affiliates filed similar "insolvency" documents with UK authorities.

It was revealed last month that a 2014 survey app created at the behest of Cambridge Analytica required Facebook login credentials and provided the survey creator access to their friends' public profile data. In the end, this system captured data from 87 million Facebook users. This data trove wound up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, the British data analytics firm, which worked with clients like the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

NBC News reported Friday that the company's May 2 shutdown hit employees abruptly, with many remaining employees filing out of their Fifth Avenue office in Manhattan directly to a nearby Irish pub.

[...] The Friday court document also notes that the attorney preparing the filing was paid for by Emerdata, a new data analytics firm founded by many of the same people who were formerly involved in Cambridge Analytica. Emerdata, like Cambridge Analytica, is largely funded by the Mercer family, who are well-known Republican donors and Trump supporters. Rebekah Mercer was named as a director to Emerdata in March 2018. What exactly Emerdata does or how it will operate going forward remains a bit of a mystery.

[...] Stephen Spaulding, the chief of strategy at advocacy group Common Cause and a former special counsel at the FEC [Federal Election Commission], told Ars that he guessed that listing was because of a pending legal complaint brought to the FEC.

"The reason they would be listed in a bankruptcy would be that this pending legal action might leave them exposed legally and maybe that's why it has to be disclosed," he said. "Why they're listed as a creditor would be a question for a bankruptcy lawyer."

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/cambridge-analytica-files-for-bankruptcy-amidst-siege-of-negative-attention/


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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday May 21 2018, @06:55AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Monday May 21 2018, @06:55AM (#682070) Journal

    Part of the SOP they learned from venture capital firms: load with debt, file for bankruptcy, have protected C-suite executives jump ship just before step two.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
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