theBreaker.news Podcast: AggregateIQ co-founder threatened with contempt of Parliament

The House of Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee recalled AggregateIQ's co-founders Jeff Silvester and Zack Massingham to Ottawa on June 12. It was part of the committee's ongoing probe into the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica Scandal. AIQ, an obscure Victoria company with connections to the federal Liberals and BC Liberals, played a pivotal role in the result of the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum and worked for the Republican Party in the U.S. Silvester attended, but Massingham was a no-show, prompting an official threat of contempt of Parliament. Silvester gave the clerk a doctor's note on behalf of his business partner, but that was not good enough for the committee, whose vice-chair suggested Massingham is hiding. "I've got a lot of friends who are lawyers, you've clearly lawyered up and, frankly, the information you provided is inadequate," said Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. Committee members wanted AIQ to answer questions after whistleblower Christopher Wylie, also of Victoria, testified. They didn't get all the answers they wanted, but Silvester revealed AIQ's use of a phone number spoofing app and work on a cryptocurrency token. Listen to highlights of the hearing on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast. Plus commentaries on FIFA's selection of North America to host the 2026 World Cup and a nod to those who teamed-up to help Lynn Valley residents after a devastating apartment fire. Also: headlines from around the Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest. Click below or go to iTunes and subscribe. Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

Show Notes

Other Episodes

Episode

theBreaker.news Podcast: Pollster ponders the panoply of politics in 2019

Episode 0

thePodcast: Trucks, tricks and Trudeau -- sounds from a February Friday

Episode 0

thePodcast: So begins the merry month of May