The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Unsuccessfully tried to serve a Civil Subpoena Wednesday on Steve Bannon, the Former Trump Campaign CEO and Chief White House Strategist, over his Role in the Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal that recently Resulted in a $5 Billion Fine for Facebook.

The Commission is examining whether Bannon, a Founder and Former Board Member of the Political Consulting Firm, Engaged in “Deceptive or Unfair" use of Data gleaned from Facebook, according to an Investigative Document.

A Process Server Hired by the FTC knocked on the door of the so-called Breitbart Embassy, a Capitol Hill Townhouse where Bannon was Due to Host a $1,000-a-Ticket Fundraiser Wednesday for the Senate Campaign of Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. But the Server, who was Wearing a Washington Nationals baseball Cap and holding a Package to make it look like an Ordinary Delivery, said he was Turned Away.

Bannon said last year that Facebook is to Blame for the Sort of Data Abuses at Issue in the Cambridge Analytica Case: “They take your stuff for free and monetize it for huge margins."

The Civil Investigative Demand said the Commission is Examining whether Bannon’s "practices regarding the collection and use of consumers’ information from Facebook were deceptive or unfair," and "whether a Commission action to obtain money relief would be in the public interest.”

The Subpoena is an Outgrowth of the Cambridge Analytica Controversy that Exploded into View in March 2018, with the Revelation that the Company had Improperly Exploited a Quiz App on Facebook to Suck Up Data on Tens of Millions of People for Voter Targeting Operations.

The FTC Settled its Case with Facebook over the Scandal in July with a Record-Setting $5 Billion Fine. But the Agency's Probe into Cambridge Analytica continues. In July, the FTC filed a Lawsuit against the Firm, Alleging that it Deceived Facebook Users by Harvesting their Information without their Consent. That Data was Paired with other Records to Build Psychological Profiles used to Target Voters, the Commission said.

The FTC Issues Civil Investigative Demand Letters to Individuals and Entities that are either the Subject of any Agency Investigation or are believed to have Information of Interest to Investigators. When Recipients of Demand Letters don't Comply, the FTC's General Counsel may step in to have it Enforced by the Courts, according to the Agency.

Bannon played an Early Role in getting Cambridge Analytica off the ground and Served on the Firm's Board. He saw the Company, launched in 2013 and Financially Backed by Republican Mega-Donor Robert Mercer, as a way of Tapping Cutting-Edge Data Science to Power a Global Nationalist Movement. A Former Contractor for Cambridge Analytica turned Whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, told CNN in 2018 that the Company was "Steve Bannon's baby."

The FTC in July reached a Proposed Settlement with Two Key Figures tied to Cambridge Analytica, Former CEO Alexander Nix and Aleksandr Kogan, the Academic who Developed the Quiz App. Cambridge Analytica Filed for Bankruptcy in 2018.

Investigators in both the U.S. and UK have Probed whether Cambridge Analytica had Connections to Russian Actors who used Facebook and other Social Media to try to Manipulate the 2016 Presidential Election in Trump's Favor. The Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller also looked into that Issue as part of his Investigation into Russian Election Interference, but No Mention of the Firm Appears in Mueller's Final Report Issued in April.

Trump named Bannon his Chief Strategist in the White House in November 2016, shortly after Winning Office. Bannon's Rocky Tenure there Ended in August 2017, when he Left as Part of a White House Shake-Up Led by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly.









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