REVEALED: The secretive billionaire Trump donor behind Facebook data mining firm who detests the GOP establishment, loves Clinton conspiracy theories and vehemently denies being a white supremacist
- New reports raise questions about Cambridge Analytica's role in 2016 election
- Firm used data harvested on 50M voters without consent, says whistleblower
- Data analytics venture worked for Ted Cruz in the primary and Trump in general
- Hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer backed the venture with $15million
- He was also a major investor in Breitbart News, but has since sold his stake
Robert Mercer, 71, poured $15million into the data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica
New reports about the data harvesting practices of Cambridge Analytica have drawn fresh attention to the firm's financial backer, secretive billionaire Robert Mercer.
Mercer, 71, made his fortune running the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies on Long Island, and is a staunch conservative who poured millions into President Donald Trump's campaign.
A sizable chunk of that support came in a $15 million investment Mercer made in Cambridge Analytica, the New York Times reported.
Facebook suspended the company from their platform on Friday, following reports it had harvested the profile information of more than 50 million users without their permission.
In the drama that was the 2016 election, perhaps no key figure is as little known as Mercer, who also played a critical role in Brexit by donating data analytics services to Nigel Farage.
Along with his daughter Rebekah, Mercer has backed a number of conservative causes, including as a major investor in right-wing site Breitbart News.
Mercer and his daughter Rebekah (together last April) have backed a number of conservative causes, including as a major investor in right-wing site Breitbart News
Mercer poured millions into supporting Donald Trump's campaign in the general election
According to the Times, Mercer first became involved with British data analytics firm SCL in 2013, when the hedge funder agreed to help finance a $1.5 million pilot project to poll voters and test psychographic messaging in Virginia's gubernatorial race.
Though the Republican candidate lost to Democrat fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe, Mercer saw promise in the technology and agreed to move forward with it.
Brilliant in his own right, Mercer has a PhD in computer science, and was an early pioneer in artificial intelligence, using his knowledge to build trading algorithms that minted millions for his fund and its clients.
Mercer has plowed much of that cash into libertarian causes, backing maverick Republican candidates in an attempt to re-shape the party.
'He despises the Republican establishment,' former Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell, who worked as a contractor for Mercer, told the New Yorker last year.
Mercer is said to favor the gold standard as monetary policy and is an avid gun collector, with what is said to be a massive collection of machine guns and historical weapons.
His strong politics have also drawn detractors. Last February, David Magerman, a senior employee at Renaissance who is a strong supporter of Jewish and Democrat causes, spoke out about what he regarded as Mercer's worrisome influence and support for the so-called 'alt-right'.
Mercer's superyacht Sea Owl is seen passing under Tower Bridge in 2013. The true size of the secretive hedge funder's fortune is unknown, but is believed to be massive
Mercer called Magerman and said, 'I hear you're going around saying I'm a white supremacist. That's ridiculous,' according to the Wall Street Journal.
Magerman insisted that he hadn't used those words, but told Mercer: 'If what you're doing is harming the country, then you have to stop.'
Mercer has also drawn criticism over support for conspiracy theories about Bill and Hillary Clinton that some consider to be fringe.
He helped fund the book and film Clinton Cash, which investigates an alleged connection between Hillary Clinton's work at the State Department and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Mercer also believes the Clintons were involved with murders, former employee Nick Patterson told the New Yorker.
Mercer insisted at a Renaissance staff luncheon that Bill Clinton had participated in a cocaine smuggling operation that is known to have operated out of the airport in Mena, Arkansas while he was governor of the state, according to Patterson.
After drug kingpin Barry Seal turned DEA witness and was assassinated in 1986, rumors persisted that the Mena smuggling operation was connected to the CIA, and that then-Governor Clinton was involved - rumors that Mercer apparently found credible.
Steve Bannon became a board member for Cambridge Analytica in about 2014
In early 2014, Mercer agreed to invest $15million in a joint venture with UK-based SCL's elections division, to create a US-based entity that could legally advise on election campaigns without running afoul of foreign influence laws.
Steve Bannon, who became a board member and investor in the new US venture, chose the name: Cambridge Analytica.
In November of last year, Mercer announced that he would leave Renaissance as co-CEO and sold off his stake in Breitbart to his daughters.
In a letter to his employees, he said he was a believer in limited government, and lamented how he had been portrayed in the press since Trump's election.
'Of the many mischaracterizations made of me by the press, the most repugnant to me have been the intimations that I am a white supremacist or a member of some other noxious group,' he wrote in the letter.
'Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, creed, or anything of that sort is abhorrent to me. But more than that, it is ignorant,' he continued.
'I believe that individuals are happiest and most fulfilled when they form their own opinions, assume responsibility for their own actions, and spend the fruits of their own labor as they see fit.'
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