1) You see, the vision of the family is pretty twisted and far from rational.
They are able to sell to both sides because formally they are on different sides under different names - they are scattered thorough the lands and it is only the family bounds that unite them. There are way more members on the side of UR - because of, as said, ultranationalism of EE. Still there are a few who work for Kuvira and secretly keep family informed.
EDIT: They started operating earlier than most of modern manufacturers, so they happen to own some of critical production lines.
2) He was sent to infiltrate into mercenaries' ranks and monitor the situation "from below" in case one of the sides tries to do some important black ops with help of said mercenaries.
Another racist.
Yay.
I saw that character who hated Fire nation and rich folks. Was he the one implied?
P.S. Dis gon b gud
EDIT: Mind if I change character's name? I suddenly figured it sounds more like EE rather than FN.
I believe that there are only two people who aren't prejudiced against a certain race.