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Watchdog: Cambridge Analytica Violated US Election Laws

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A complaint filed with the US Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission charges the UK firm Cambridge Analytica and a related firm repeatedly violated US laws in the past two election cycles, including with work for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, the advocacy group Common Cause said in a press release.
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"As the complaint outlines in detail, publicly available data and numerous published reports make abundantly clear that numerous employees of the companies violated the federal law prohibition on foreign nationals ‘directly or indirectly’ participat[ing] in the decision-making process of any… political committee in connection with US elections," the release said on Monday.

The complaint targets Cambridge Analytica and its sister company, SCL Group Limited, and individuals working for both companies, the release explained.

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"The companies, staffed almost entirely by foreign nationals, did more than $5 million worth of work for the presidential campaigns of both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as well as millions of dollars more for other campaigns and Super PACs [political action committees] including the John Bolton Super PAC and Make America Number 1," the release said.

Bolton was recently named by Trump as National Security Adviser.

Cambridge Analytica is a political data firm that purportedly worked for Republican candidates by using profiles gleaned from more than 50 million Facebook users to influence voters in the United States, according to published reports.

The firm denies involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign.

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