A number of election deniers have praised the arrest of a CEO of a software company on suspicion of stealing data of Los Angeles County poll workers.
Eugene Yu, founder of Michigan-based Konnech Corporation, a company which has been the target of 2020 election conspiracy theorists, is accused of theft of personal information, with hard drives and other digital evidence seized by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The District Attorney's Office said in a statement on Tuesday that Konnech won a $2.9 million, five-year contract with LA County for its PollChief software, which tracks election workers' assignments, communications and payroll.
As part of the contract Konnech was supposed to keep the data in the United States, and only allow permanent residents to have access to it. However, the information was stored on servers in China, according to the DA's office.
Prosecutors said that the investigation is solely concerned with the theft of personal identification of poll workers, and the allegations have nothing to do with the counting of votes and did not alter election results.
"But security in all aspects of any election is essential so that we all have full faith in the integrity of the election process," District Attorney George Gascón said.
In a statement, Konnech said it is looking into what it described as the "wrongful detention" of Yu.
"Any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by LA County, and therefore could not have been 'stolen' as suggested," the company said.
The company has long been accused by those who believe there was widespread voter fraud and other irregularities at the 2020 presidential election of storing information about poll workers on servers in China.
Members of the True the Vote group, who claim there was election fraud in the last presidential vote, said they have been investigating Konnech since 2021.
At an August conference in Phoenix, Arizona, True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht and fellow election conspiracy theorist Gregg Phillips claimed they were able to gain access to Konnech's database and download the personal details of around 1.8 million workers by guessing the password, which was "password," according to a recent article in The New York Times.
In a statement, True the Vote claimed to have "played a small role" in the investigation while thanking the Los Angeles District Attorney's office for their "thorough work and rapid action" in this matter.
However, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office told The New York Times that it was unaware of True the Vote's investigation and said it had no input into its inquiry.
"Election integrity should not be a partisan issue, nor should media try to suppress all conversation about it in a way that benefits one party," Engelbrecht said. "We will continue to report evidence of threats to our election process and work with law enforcement to ensure our elections are a secure space for all American voters."
Dinesh D'Souza, director of the 2020 election documentary 2,000 Mules, which contains a number of disputed claims and features Engelbrecht and Phillips, also reacted to Yu's arrest.
In a tweet, D'Souza shared an article entitled "Have Chinese Spies Infiltrated American Elections?" which details the Konnech CEO's alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
"This article is especially relevant in the wake of the arrest today of Konnech founder and CEO Eugene Yu. Election tampering has consequences!," D'Souza tweeted.
Josh Barnett, a Donald Trump-supporting Republican Arizona congressional candidate who lost his GOP primary in August, shared a news article detailing Yu's arrest while tweeting "well well well."
Gascón thanked his prosecutors and investigators for their "commitment to eliminating cyber intrusions against government entities and local businesses" following Yu's arrest.
"Data breaches are an ongoing threat to our digital way of life. When we entrust a company to hold our confidential data, they must be willing and able to protect our personal identifying information from theft. Otherwise, we are all victims."
Prosecutors are now seeking Yu's extradition from Michigan to Los Angeles.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
