EMERDATA Ltd ⎯ mysterious new data company, latest in Cambridge Analytica scandal

in #news7 years ago (edited)


Photo cred: @WendySiegelman

Emerdata Ltd is a mysterious data processing company that recently named Rebekah & Jennifer Mercer (daughters of Robert Mercer, conservative hedge fund billionaire) as directors, alongside Alexander Nix (suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica).

Also sitting as a director is Johnson Chun Shun K, a close associate of Erik Prince. Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos (US Secretary of Education) and the founder of Blackwater, now known as Academi. Blackwater secured government contracts which paid out $100s of millions for private military operations during the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.


Let's take a look at Emerdata's list of directors:

Rebekah Mercer

Appointed March 16th, 2018

Who Politico once called "The most powerful woman in GOP politics" in 2016, Rebekah is the daughter of hedge fund conservative billionaire, Robert Mercer. She has stood alongside her father on my occasions and was heavily involved in getting Donald Trump elected.

To give you a sense of her demeanor, leading up to Trump's election, Steve Bannon came up with an idea to engage in political cyberwarefare against Hilary Clinton's campaign. He pitched it to the Mercer family (including Rebekah) alongside Alexander Nix and Christopher Wylie of Cambridge Analytica. In the meeting, Rebekah was impressed by the idea and took an interest in Christopher Wiley (a gay, data science entrpreneur) who she saw as a way to recruit more gays to their side, as Wylie explained in his interview with The Guardian.

Jennifer Mercer

Appointed March 16th, 2018

{literally couldn't find a picture of her anywhere]

Jennifer (nicknamed "Jenji") is HARD to find information on, but according to Politico she "shares her mother’s interest in horses."

Her lack of digital presence seems sketchy, especially considering her listed address with Emerdata Ltd. can't be linked back to her. If you look up Jennifer's role in the company, you'll find that her correspondence address is listed as:

Cdl Family Office, 505 S Flagler Drive, Suite 900, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401, Usa

With a quick google search, you'll discover 'Caler, Donten, Levine, Cohen, Porter & Veil, P.A.' has absolutely no connection with Jennifer (really, I looked everywhere). I'm still trying to figure it out, but for now she's a mystery.

Alexander Nix

Appointed January 23rd, 2018

Nix is the suspended CEO of Cambridge Analytica, a British data company that played a role in Ted Cruz's presidential campaign and the Leave.EU-campaign that campaigned for Brexit. Over the past week Nix has become most known for his work on Donald Trump's campaign.

Nix and his team improperly obtained information on over 50 million America's Facebook accounts which they used to create psychological profiles for every user. They were able to identify swing voters and uses micro-marketing tactics to swing voters towards Trump.

Cambridge Analytica has been the center of multiple controversies surrounding their role in political campaigns.

  • Channel 4 News did some undercover investigating
  • The Guardian aired an interview of Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

Johnson Chun Shun Ko

Appointed January 23rd, 2018

Johnson is the executive director and a deputy chairman of Frontier Services Group, a security, aviation, and logistics company worth reading about. This is notable, because Erik Prince is the founder and leader of that group. Johnson is a close associate of Erik Prince who is the brother of Donald Trump’s secretary of education Betsy DeVos & founder of private military contractor Blackwater.

You can reference "The Dark Truth about Blackwater" reported by Brookings in 2007.

"Employees from the [Blackwater] firm claim they were attacked by gunmen and responded within the rules of engagement, fighting their way out of the square after one of their vehicles was disabled. Iraqi police and witnesses instead report that the [Blackwater] contractors opened fire first, shooting at a small car driven by a couple with their child that did not get out of the convoy’s way as traffic slowed."

Ahmad Al Khatib

Appointed January 23rd, 2018

No much is known about Ahmad Al Khatib. In fact, all I could find on him is that he is 29 years old and a "citizen of the Seychelles living in England" (as many news sources reported).

Cheng Peng

Appointed January 23rd, 2018

Cheng Peng's role is also unknown and I couldn't find him online. Sources report that she is 30 years old with British citizenship living in Hong Kong.

Julian Wheatland

Appointed August 11, 2017

Julian is the chairman of the SCL Group board of directors. SCL Group, as you may know, is the parent company of Cambridge Analytica. It is by no coincidence that Alexander Nix and Julian Wheatland both ended up as directors of Emerdata. But, why, along with all the others, they joined this company is still unknown. Hopefully investigative journalists will give this more attention.


If you wish to crosscheck any of this, click here (leads to their company filing records).

Emerdata is poised as a data oriented company (similar to Cambridge Analytica) yet they are directed by shady politicians and a suspended CEO with ties to military contractors. I hope this will encourage some of you to research even deeper. Please share in the comments if you have a new insight. We need to keep our eye on this group.