Talk About Ironic: Brexit Group Fined Under EU-Related Privacy Regulations

In an ironic twist, the British Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recently fined a Brexit advocacy group for violating regulations issued under an EU directive.  The fines, totaling £120,000,  were levied against Leave.EU and a related insurance company, Eldon Insurance, for sending marketing emails to each other's subscribers without sufficient consent.  Leave.EU had sent marketing emails to over 300,000 of Eldon's customers, and the two entities had carried out unlawful joint marketing campaigns through Leave. EU's mailing list. 

The entities, which are run by the same individual, share a significant number of employees, senior employees, directors, and a corporate address.  At the time, the marketing staffs were even using the same Mailchimp account.  As a result of administrative error, a Leave.EU employee inadvertently used an Eldon distribution list to send a Leave.EU e-newsletter to nearly 300,000 of Eldon's customers without their consent.