Sydney-based Desh Amila, 34, is one half of Think Inc. Amila and his partner, Suzi Jamil, 24, are currently escorting US string theorist Dr Brian Greene around the country, and past guests have included cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, neuroscientist Sam Harris and former Islamist-turned-UK-politician Maajid Nawaz. Through various arcane means last year, they managed to make contact with Snowden and convince him to speak. That's where the problems started. Amila said that once contact had been made with Mr Snowden and agreement reached on the tour, Think Inc had attempted in December to lodge a deposit into a bank account nominated by Snowden's lawyer. The company chosen to handle the transfer, UK-based and Australian registered foreign exchange company World First Pty Ltd, at first agreed to make the transaction, but then sent an email advising that it was "unable to facilitate payment to the named individual due to compliance restriction". "We called the company after that and we were told by an account manager that because the company refused to make payments to people like drug dealers and criminals they thus couldn't send funds to Edward Snowden," said Amila. Jamil, who has a law degree, explained that Snowden has never been convicted of a crime but the company remained unswayed.

World First later sent an email to Amila, which stated that the funds had been refused because of "a high degree of reputational risk in completing the requested transfer". A second foreign exchange company with whom Think Inc had previously worked also refused to process the payment, Jamil said. It, too, cited "reputational risk". "So we ended up literally giving the money to a man who knew a man who knew Edward Snowden's lawyer," said Desh Amila. "We were pretty worried. But it reached him eventually." Sealing the deal, however, turned out not to be the end of the problems. A day before Think Inc was due to announce the Snowden tour one of the venues booked – HBF Stadium in Perth – pulled out. The venue operators told Amila the cancellation was due to delays in finalising a contract. Jamil said the she was told in a telephone call that the stadium's board of directors was concerned about being associated with Snowden.

A second venue, the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, agreed to host the event. Before making the tour announcement, Think Inc concluded a deal with online seller Ticketek to handle ticket sales. Shortly afterwards, the seller put Jamil and Amila in contact with an executive from credit card giant Visa, who said the corporation wanted to be a sponsor of the tour. Visa then sent through an email that stated the company was "keen to get a pre-sale locked away for the upcoming Edward Snowden show." According to Amila, 48 hours later the company withdrew the offer to sponsor, with no explanation. The tour, which kicks off on Friday, May 20, in Perth, is now sponsored by the Monash University Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. The problems encountered in organising the Snowden events are not the first Jamil and Amila have encountered in bring their guests to Australia. In January police were needed to guard them and their guests – Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz – after threats thought to be from Islamists were made on Twitter, calling for an assault on the Everest Theatre, in Sydney's Seymour Centre, where the pair were appearing.