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In an email addressed to Andy Wigmore, his partner, Banks said he would like Cambridge Analytica to "develop a fundraising strategy in the United States and engage businesses and special interest groups that would to be concerned with the TTIP ", a transatlantic trade agreement between the United States and the EU, to which Bannon was hostile. He was later abandoned by Trump.
"It's clear that the major donors are sitting on the fence, but we want to do something about it," Banks wrote. "Our first and only priority is to win the nomination and be ahead," Banks added, citing his candidacy to Leave.EU to become the official campaign for Britain to announce its membership in the United States. EU.
Under the UK electoral law, campaigns can not accept donations from individuals or companies abroad.
In a text message, Wigmore, who also acts as Banks' spokesperson, told CNN that the email exchanges were "old old".
When asked if Banks or Wigmore had solicited or accepted funds for Leave.EU, Wigmore replied "No and no".
Questioned by a parliamentary committee in June, Banks said he had only engaged in initial discussions with Cambridge Analytica, but that he had not retained their services.
Nix and Cambridge Analytica also said they did not work for the Leave.EU campaign.
Bannon did not respond to CNN's comment request.
The leaked e-mails appeared at a pivotal moment, just days after British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she had agreed to an agreement on Brexit with Brussels and that she was ready to deal with "hard" factions or without Brexit agreement within his government. , at the cost of facing a vote of censorship.
The NCA opened an investigation into the dismissal by the Electoral Commission of suspicions that Leave.EU could have received money from "illicit sources" and hinted that she had reason to believe that " many crimes could have been committed. "
Darling offers
Banks, a businessman, came out of political obscurity in 2014 when he donated $ 1.3 million to the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party, then headed by Nigel Farage.
Since then, he has injected about $ 12 million into Leave.EU and asked if any of this money came from Moscow. It appeared this summer that he had been offered preferential offers during meetings with the Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko.
In a statement released on November 1, Banks told CNN that he "has never received any donations from abroad". Bilney declined to comment on the NCA's investigation.
"It is clear that it was a closely coordinated international group sharing techniques and information in pursuit of a common political goal," Lucas said.
"Very few people were aware of the scale and the impact of its activity," he said.
