Cambridge Analytica, the UK-based political consulting firm started taking bankruptcy proceedings to shut down following a controversy over its handling of Facebook Inc user data. The company said Wednesday that it suffered a sharp drop in business. “The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers,” the statement said. After losing clients and facing mounting legal fees resulting from the scandal over reports the company harvested personal data about millions of Facebook users beginning in 2014, Reuter reported. “As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the company into administration,” the statement added. Cambridge has denied wrongdoing and blamed “unfairly negative media coverage.” said it has been “vilified” for actions that are legal and "also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising," according to media. However, Reuters reported that after the announcement, Britain’s data regulator said it would continue civil and criminal investigations of the firm and will pursue “individuals and directors as appropriate” despite the shutdown. “We will also monitor closely any successor companies using our powers to audit and inspect, to ensure the public is safeguarded,” a spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner’s Office said in a statement.