On 6 December 2024, the Commercial Court (Dame Clare Moulder DBE) handed down judgment in Dynamo Recoveries Limited & Emerdata Limited v Alexander Nix [2024] EWHC 3116 (Comm), after a two-week trial in October 2024.

The claims by Dynamo Recoveries and Emerdata, and a cross-claim by Mr Nix which was heard at the same trial, arose out of the failure of the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ business in 2018. Cambridge Analytica had been a data and political advertising business which rose to prominence after its involvement in the successful Donald Trump presidential campaign in 2016. It later collapsed into insolvency in 2018, following extensive and sustained critical media reporting about the business. The claimants sought compensation from Mr Nix in relation to that business failure.

The claims against Mr Nix, which had been brought for alleged breaches of his statutory director’s duties and other alleged fiduciary duties and had been valued at over £50 million, have all been rejected by the Court. Allegations of alleged fraudulent misrepresentation had already been abandoned by the claimants in the course of closing arguments. In addition, Mr Nix’s cross-claim for $12 million of outstanding debts from Emerdata has succeeded; a defence to that claim based on alleged misrepresentations was abandoned at trial and the other defences (discharge by agreement, estoppel) have now been rejected by the Court.

Jonathan Allcock acted as sole counsel for Mr Nix, the successful defendant and cross-claimant.

A copy of the Judgment is available here.