WikiLeaks Spending Ballooned, Data ShowNew data from the German foundation that processes WikiLeaks' bills show that the document-leaking website has sharply increased its spending as it seeks to professionalize its activities by paying salaries—primarily to founder Julian Assange—and as the organization faces potential legal issues.
At the same time, the Germany-based Wau Holland Foundation says it has collected about €1 million ($1.3 million) in donations in 2010, the year in which WikiLeaks exploded into public prominence thanks to its release of thousands of classified U.S. documents. WikiLeaks said in August that it had raised about €765,000 until that point in the year. The data from the foundation, which is a major but not the sole conduit of funding for the website, suggest donations to WikiLeaks have tampered off some since the organization landed in the headlines.
The Wau Holland Foundation provides key back-office services for WikiLeaks' operations by collecting donations and paying its bills. Last summer, WikiLeaks said it operated on about €150,000 a year.
Now, however, the foundation says it has paid about €380,000 in WikiLeaks expenses, with some invoices for the year still unprocessed. Some of that total is for hardware, Internet access and travel, Wau Holland spokesman Hendrik Fulda said.
But a big factor in the leap is a recent decision to begin paying salaries to staff.The primary beneficiary of that decision—which has been hotly debated within WikiLeaks—is Mr. Assange, the controversial founder and public face of WikiLeaks who is currently under house arrest in the U.K., where he faces possible extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct.
So far, the Wau Holland Foundation—founded in 2003 to honor the legacy of the late computer hacker Wau Holland—has paid more than €100,000 in salaries for 2010, including about €66,000 euros to Mr. Assange, Mr. Fulda said.(Note: 66,000 Euros = $86,565)
Mr. Fulda says the WikiLeaks decision to compensate its staff—rather than rely on volunteers—ends nearly a year of internal debate. In order to professionalize its activities,
WikiLeaks will now pay key personnel based on a salary structure developed by the environmental activist organization Greenpeace. Under the structure, Greenpeace department heads are paid about €5,500 euros in monthly salary, Mr. Fulda said.(Note: 5500 Euros = $7,213 )
The salaries will be paid retroactively to January 2010, Mr. Fulda said. So far, six WikiLeaks staff members have filed invoices requesting compensation, including at least one invoice for just one month of work, Mr. Fulda said. Other former staff members are expected to file for compensation in the coming weeks, he said.
Manfred Redelefs, head of the research unit at Greenpeace Germany, declined to comment on the specific pay structure at WikiLeaks but said, "Every organization is free to use the Greenpeace pay structure as their model."
Another mounting cost for WikiLeaks relates to legal work. Lawyers acting on behalf of WikiLeaks have billed the document-leaking organization for about €30,000 euros in services. Going forward, that could become a much bigger cost for the organization, given that the U.S. has launched several broad investigations in the wake of WikiLeaks' release of classified documents, which has angered the U.S. government.
However, none of the funds collected by the Wau Holland Foundation are going to pay for legal expenses related to defense against possible criminal charges in Sweden, Mr. Fulda said.
WikiLeaks recently established the Julian Assange Defense Fund to collect donations for Mr. Assange's legal battles, including his effort to resist extradition to Sweden for questioning over sexual-assault allegations. WikiLeaks' Twitter account recently posted a link to the fund's term sheet, which says it can be used to cover expenses "concerned with extradition, release from arrest, dealing with bail or surety/security...the cost of obtaining legal advice and legal services for [Mr. Assange]" and to make "payments ordered by any court to be made to any opposing party."
On the fundraising front, Mr. Assange in August said WikiLeaks had raised about $1 million (€763,000) since the beginning of 2010. He said the group got about half of its money from modest donations via its website, and the rest from "personal contacts," including wealthy donors who give tens of thousands of dollars.
Much of this money was donated to the WikiLeaks account at the Wau Holland Foundation, Mr. Fulda said. EBay Inc.'s online-payment service PayPal previously processed many of these WikiLeaks donations via Wau Holland, but this month stopped doing so, saying that WikiLeaks had violated PayPal policies that ban "any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity." Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc. and Bank of America Corp. also recently stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.
On its website, WikiLeaks says donors can still send money to a WikiLeaks-Wau Holland account at Commerzbank Kassel in Germany, or to an account at Landsbanki in Iceland that also accepts donations to WikiLeaks.
Mr. Fulda says donations have continued at a steady pace despite the cancelation of banking services by PayPal. Wau Holland plans to publish an accounting of processing of donations on behalf of WikiLeaks, Mr. Fulda said. The report will include details of banking fees charged by PayPal for its handling of WikiLeaks donations, Mr. Fulda said.
Mr. Fulda says WikiLeaks asked the Wau Holland foundation to determine whether it could contribute to a legal-defense fund created for the benefit of U.S. Army intelligence analyst Pfc. Bradley Manning. Military prosecutors allege Mr. Manning, who is awaiting court martial at a military base in Quantico, Va., illegally downloaded and disseminated government documents. If convicted, he could face a 52-year jail sentence. The foundation is awaiting advice from its lawyers on whether the donation would be legal under German law, Mr. Fulda said.
A spokesman for the foundation's oversight agency said the Wau Holland Foundation must make an initial decision on whether it is authorized to assist Mr. Manning's defense fund. "If necessary, we would review the decision later," the spokesman said.
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