Wikileaks Cash Flows In, Drips Out

Wikileaks Cash Flows In, Drips Out

* By Kim Zetter Email Author
* July 13, 2010 |
* 8:07 pm |
* Categories: Sunshine and Secrecy, Wikileaks

The secret-spilling website Wikileaks appears to be a frugal spender, tapping less than 10 percent of the funds received through two of its three donation methods, according to the third-party foundation that manages those contributions.

Wikileaks has received 400,000 euros (U.S. $500,000) through PayPal or bank money transfers since late December, and spent only 30,000 euros (U.S. $38,000) from that funding, says Hendrik Fulda, vice president of the Berlin-based Wau Holland Foundation.

The money has gone to pay the travel expenses of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and spokesman Daniel Schmitt, as well as to cover the costs of computer hardware, such as servers, and leasing data lines, says Fulda. Wikileaks does not currently pay a salary to Assange or other volunteers from this funding, though there have been discussions about doing so in the future, Fulda adds. The details have not yet been worked out.

“If you are drawing from volunteers who are basically doing stuff for free and if you start paying money, the question is to whom, and to whom not, do you pay, and how much?” Fulda said. “It’s almost a moral question: How much money do you pay?”

The spending figures were first reported by the German paper Der Freitag, after a series of anonymous posts circulated online accusing Wikileaks of misusing donor funds. The posts were authored by an anonymous person who claimed to be a Wikileaks insider, and appeared on Cryptome.org, a competing transparency site.

Wired Article

I don't see any wrong doing here.. this is interesting. I applaud them for holding on to their money.

Then again If I made 38 thousand dollars since December, I'd have enough to pay for the servers for a few months and then live like a King for the next 6 months.

How do they know how much money was spent.. are they counting the money that was withdrawn from the account?

So Wikileaks has made 38 thousand since December.. But.. they have been around for a few years. What about the money they have made before December for all those years.. nothing is mentioned about that money.. Could be they have oodles of cash floating around from that money and didn't need to touch more than a little for current expenses.

[edit on 14-7-2010 by JohnPhoenix]

Another article from Wired trying to put a negative slant on something completely neutral.

Wikileaks have spent their money on useful and relevent things. The article is making a point that they are not wasting money and this is supposed to be a bad thing?

Wired are on a serious agenda against Wkileaks. I wonder why?

Here's more of Wired's amateur Wikileaks reporting:
www.abovetopsecret.com...