Now he can focus full-time on bringing the criminal proceedings
A man leading a campaign to “prosecute dishonest Brexit politicians” has crowdfunded over £33,000 so he won’t need to work and can focus on bringing criminal proceedings instead.
100%! Done. I have a salary and over 1000 people to thank for it. I will do my very best to be worthy of it. Thank you all. Target hit.
— Marcus J Ball (@MarcusJBall) October 2, 2016
Marcus Ball (pictured below) is hoping to launch a private prosecution against politicians from both sides of the referendum campaign for the following offences: fraud, misconduct in public office, undue influence and — possibly — inciting racial hatred.
Speaking to Legal Cheek, he made clear he couldn’t name specific politicians under investigation, but names featuring on his crowdfunding page — #BrexitJustice — include sacked Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and former UKIP head honcho Nigel Farage.
While it may seem instinctively far-fetched, Ball’s campaign has captured the country’s imagination. His crowdfunding page has raised over £145,000 to fund the legal case and has formally instructed a team of solicitors from London-based firm Edmonds Marshall McMahon.
Ball, a Canterbury Christ Church graduate, has clearly invested a lot of time and effort into his #BrexitJustice endeavour, and that had taken a toll on his personal finances. Ball explained:
My biggest responsibility is to raise far more funding for the case, potentially more than £2 million, which involves a lot of planning, pitching and networking. In order to do this I need to live and work in central London full-time, which I currently am. However, I’ve run out of personal credit card and bank overdraft ‘funding’ after working for three months without a salary.
Pretty incredibly, Ball has now added to his already impressive crowdfunding repertoire by raising over £33,000 in his ‘Crowdfund a salary & expenses for Marcus J Ball’ project — over £1,000 more than his £32,400 target. He has described the support as “incredible” and told backers the money he has raised beyond his target will be added to the #BrexitJustice fund.
While a legal challenge, known as the Dos Santos/Miller case, is being heard in the High Court next week, Ball wants to make clear his campaign is looking for something very different. He explained:
Our objective is to change the common law. I want to set a precedent that says politicians cannot do this anymore.
It’s a big risk for Ball — financially and reputationally — but he is determined to fight his corner. He told us:
You can’t just sit back and allow what’s happened to happen and happen again. If you don’t stop corruption from happening, it only gets worse.
