An Israeli intelligence company called Psy-Group formed a partnership with President Trump’s campaign data firm, the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica, in order to win business deals with the U.S. government after the election, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Psy-Group — which is owned by Joel Zamel, a person of interest in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe — signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2016 with Cambridge Analytica, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. The plan was for the two firms to work together to share intelligence and social media services, while also helping each other win government contracts, people familiar with the efforts told the WSJ.
While Psy-Group has not yet been granted any governmental contracts, according to the WSJ’s search of public records, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, SCL Group, was given a $500,000 contract with the State Department in February 2017.
Cambridge Analytica closed earlier this month after it was revealed that the company improperly harvested the data of millions of private Facebook users.
Read the WSJ’s full story here.
