WikiLeaks Needs $1 Million ASAP

WikiLeaks needs $1 million Euros ASAP or the site could lose its ability to continue operations. The anti-secrecy group announced on Wednesday that it needs the money to “effectively continue its mission.”

In December 2011 Wikileaks had $983,600 in the bank, by the end of June that number had dwindled to $120,000. According to WikiLeaks the site will be broke “within a few months.”

The loss of capital isn’t necessarily the result of donors losing interest, instead Visa and Mastercard had jointly banned the website from receiving funds after calls from the United States government.

In the meantime Wikileaks has found a workaround for its Visa and Mastercard problem, donors can pay through France’s Carte Bleue system which will then turn around and make donations through France’s Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality, a nonprofit organization.

Carte Bleue can donate that money to Wikileaks because the organization’s contracts with Visa and Mastercard specifically state they can not be forbidden from stopping merchant transactions.

According to Julian Assange:

“Let them shut it down. We’re waiting. Our lawyers are waiting.”

This is not the first time WikiLeaks has found a workaround for payments, in 2001 the company funneled money through Icelandic payment processor DataCell, that workaround was eventually shut down by Visa with very little notice.

In the meantime Julian Assange is currently hiding in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London as he attempts to fight his extradition to Sweden for rape charges.

The Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality and Visa are not currently responding to request for more information.