



From there, any interested donors go to a page on Facebook running a Fundrazr app re-titled the "Julian Assange Defense Fund." From there money is sent via PayPal, MasterCard or Visa "to pay Julian's legal expenses" via a fund administered by the accounting firm Hazlems Fenton LPP, the page reads. Conveniently, the Fundrazr app lists a running, real-time count of how much has been collected:

So far 787 people have donated £25,005.50 or roughly $40,800.The fund has been promoted on the WikiLeaks site since at least February so if this is what a typical online fundraising month looks like, the organization could be taking in around $500,000 via its web site. The organization has alternative, though less convenient, means of collecting money--it accepts donations via bank transfer, checks mailed to a post-office box in Australia, or credit-card payments processed by a company called Datacell. But if the last month of fundraising is typical, the total suggests the organization, which has a reported annual budget of at least $1.1 million, cannot live off its online tip jar alone. And you're welcome, Julian: £5 of that is from The Atlantic Wire when we tested if the payments were being processed. Here's a copy of our receipt.

But it's not exactly clear if that's where this money is going. On WikiLeaks, where it's the top-promoted method for giving on the "Donate" page, one could easily get the impression that one were giving to WikiLeaks the organization and not just to Assange. As it stands, donors have no way of knowing. The direct recipient is a London accounting firm called Hazlems Fenton, whose home page touts its skills for clients in fashion or sports. The link to terms of the fund is broken and leads to an error page on the website of Assange's legal team of Finers Stephens Innocent LLP, where his British defense attorney Mark Stephens is a partner.

The biggest legal headache Assange is currently facing stems from accusations of molestation and rape in Sweden. Assange was arrested in London on an international warrant related to these charges. Assange himself said he had already spent $310,000. He, has, of course, found other sources of income. He signed a book deal with publishers Alfred A. Knopf and Canongate in late December worth more than $1 million. It's not clear that he sees a distinction between his personal problems and his organization. “I didn’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he told the Sunday Times. “I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

Though there is scant description of the fund's purpose via Wikileaks, we did get some more information. It looks like it's the same legal defense fund that Stephens opened in December for Assange to pay his legal bills. Update: Susan Thackeray, head of litigation at Finers Stephens Innocent, has confirmed that we were correct; they are the same funds.The terms of the fund stress three important points: the money in the fund "belongs" to Assange; it "may only be used for Julian's legal defence"; and if there's money left over at the end of litigation, the money may go to "non-profit bodies which have freedom of speech or freedom of information as a principal aim," which sounds a lot like WikiLeaks.org.