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Cambridge Analytica chief accused of swiping $8M from the company

Alexander Nix reportedly took the money shortly after the media started scrutinizing the activity of Cambridge Analytica.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Katie Collins
CEO Of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix arrives at the office near Holborn

Alexander Nix stepped down as company CEO shortly after the scandal broke.

 Barcroft Media/Getty

The former chief executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix was accused on Wednesday of taking $8 million from the company ahead of its collapse.

Investors backing a rebrand of the data consultancy firm are currently in a stand-off with Nix while trying to persuade him to return the money, according to the Financial Times.

Nix reportedly took the money shortly after British journalists began reporting on the company's involvement in the mishandling of Facebook users' personal data -- a scandal that resulted in Cambridge Analytica shuttering its doors at the beginning of May.

Nix did not respond to request for comment.

Nix denied that he had taken the money during an evidence session in the UK's Parliament on Wednesday afternoon local time. "The allegation made in that article is false, the facts in that article are not correct," he said.

First published June 6 at 3:12 a.m. PT.
Update, 8:17 a.m./ PT: Adds statement made in Parliament by Alexander Nix.