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WikiLeaks Banking Blockade

By blockadethis

  • US intentionally and wrongfully imply illegal conduct by WikiLeak

    United States - US intentionally and wrongfully imply (but do not formally state) illegal conduct by WikiLeaks in a letter to lawyers for Julian Assange, which they then immediately leak to the press.

  • Cablegate is released

    WikiLeaks began publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever released into the public domain. The cables are released slowly, they are manually redacted in a centralised WikiLeaks system by publishing partners in order to protect the individuals that are named in the cables from harm.

  • Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks material

    Following pressure from Republican Senator Joe Lieberman, Amazon stopped hosting WikiLeaks servers. A spokeswoman for Senator Lieberman announced that: "Sen. Lieberman hopes that the Amazon case will send the message to other companies that might host Wikileaks that it would be irresponsible to host the site".

  • EveryDNS stops wikileaks.org domain service

    EveryDNS registrar stops serving the Wikileaks.org domain name.

  • Paypal discontinues service

    Paypal stops processing donations for WikiLeaks, cutting off a major source of funding. “PayPal has permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage,
    promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity.”

  • PayPal blocks Wau Holland Stiftung’s (WHS) access to its account.

    PayPal announces that in addition to closing the WHS account that receives donations for WikiLeaks, the money will be frozen for 180 days. The money is released immediately by PayPal after a WHS lawyer intervenes.

  • Swiss Post Finance freezes JulianAssange Defence Fund account in Switzerland

    PostFinance freezes the account for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s legal defence in Switzweland. The decision came after the release of the diplomatic cables, arguing that the place of residence provided when opening the account was irregular.

  • MasterCard stop processing payments to WikiLeaks

    MasterCard announced that it was cancelling all payments to WikiLeaks, providing the same justification as Paypal had days earlier: "MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products ... MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal.”

  • Visa stop processing payments to WikiLeaks

    Visa Europe announced "Visa Europe has taken action to suspend Visa payment acceptance on WikiLeaks' website pending further investigation into the nature of its business and whether it contravenes Visa operating rules"

  • Updated Statement aboutWikiLeaks from PayPal General Counsel, John Muller

    Paypals updated statementPaypal stated that it was treating WikiLeaks in the same way as it would any other account holder, but cancels account based on wrong assumptions.

  • UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns blockade

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over “pressure exerted on private companies, including banks, credit card companies and service providers to close down credit lines for donations to WikiLeaks, as well as to stop hosting the website or its mother sites.”

  • Icelandic Parliament Considers RevokingVisa/MasterCard Licenses For Wikileaks Ban

    The Icelandic Parliamentary general committee discussed the ban that Visa and Mastercard have placed on card-holders who wish to donate to Wikileaks, and raised the possibility of taking away their operating licences. Robert Marshall, the chairman of the committee expressed that: "People wanted to know on what legal grounds the ban was taken, but no one could answer it. They said this decision was taken by foreign sources."

  • Amnesty International examines Human

    Rights at stake when blocking WikiLeaks payments “Over the last week, Paypal, Visa and Mastercard have removed their users’ ability to donate to Wikileaks online, asserting as grounds that Wikileaks engages or may engage in illegal activities. There has been speculation that this restriction was due to US government pressure. Amnesty International does not have information to confirm or refute that
    speculation, but that governments

  • Bank of America discontinues any services intended for WikiLeaks

    Bank of America announced a blockade against WikiLeaks donations, saying it was joining actions previously announced by Visa Europe, MasterCard, PayPal, and others (Post Finance), adding that it “will not process transactions of any
    type that we have reason to believe are intended for WikiLeaks.”12 As with other financial service providers, Bank of America alleged breach of internal policies

  • Apple removes WikiLeaks application for iPhones

    Apple removed a third-party app created to allow iPhone users to access and search WikiLeaks embassy cables. Apple stated that it had “removed the Wikileaks App from the App Store because it violated our developer guidelines. Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or targeted group in harms way.”

  • Western Union adds WikiLeaks to 'Interdiction List'

    Alleged leaked internal Western Union emails dated 21 December 2010 add Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Wau Holland Foundation, WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks.com, WHS Projekt 04 to Western Union Interdiction List.

  • UN and OAS Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression issue a Joint Statement Condemning the Blockade

    UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression ‘Joint Statement on
    WikiLeaks’

  • New York Times Editorial Condemns Blockade

    “... But a bank’s ability to block payments to a legal entity raises a troubling prospect. A handful of big banks could potentially bar any organization they disliked from the payments system, essentially cutting them off from
    the world economy. The fact of the matter is that banks are not like any other business. They run the payments system. That is one of the main reasons that governments protect them from failure with explicit and implicit guarantees.

  • Teller AS finds WikiLeaks has not violated VISA regulations

    When it announced its decision to suspend WikiLeaks donations on December 8th, VISA said it was awaiting an investigation into “the nature of its business and whether it contravenes VISA operating rules” — but it did not go into
    details. VISA instructed the Denmark-based financial services company Teller AS to investigate WikiLeaks and its fundraising body, Sunshine Press. Teller AS found that WikiLeaks had done nothing illegal or that contravenes VISA regulations, Icelandic laws or Danish laws.

  • Wau Holland Stiftung/Foundation (WHS) moves its office from Kassel to Hamburg

  • US Treasury finds no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks

    After a full Treasury investigation initiated by Republican Senator Peter King, the US Treasury Department found there were no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks. Therefore, the US Treasury Department could not place WikiLeaks on the Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List

  • WikiLeaks Press conference with Rudolf Elmer

    Banking whistleblower Rudolf Elmer makes a public handover of CDs to WikiLeaks.

  • Elmer is handed suspended sentence. He is the arrested without charge in connection with WikiLeaks press conference.

    Rudolf Elmer, in Switzerland, is handed a suspended sentence in connection with whistleblowing, which he appeals. He is arrested minutes later in connection with the press conference with WikiLeaks. He is detained without
    charge.

  • Bank of America, who hired data intelligence firms HBGary, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologiesvia law firm Hunton&Williams, is revealed to have commissioned aproposal of a systematic attack against WikiLeaks.

    A leaked proposal listed financial pressure as one of the weakness, “due to the companies refusing to process WikiLeaks’ donations at that time”. The report was part of a proposal to be submitted to Bank of America through the law firm Hunton & Williams, which was recommended to the bank by individuals within the Justice Department.

  • FA Hamburg-Nord (tax department) drops Kassel investigation into WHS’ (the foundation receiving WikiLeaks’ donations) charitable status, but initiates a new investigation on different grounds.

  • Ethics complaint filed at the DCBar against law firm Hunton&Williams and members of Congress call for probe into illegal conduct by the firm (hired by Bank of America to sabotage WikiLeaks and target WikiLeaks’ supporters)

    The ethics complaint accuses Hunton&Williams of unethical behaviour and possible illegality as a result of the leaked emails. Democrat members of Congress call for a probe into Hunton&Williams on 1 March 2011. The leaked emails showed the targeting of critics of the Chamber of Commerce. The leaked HB Gary report written for Bank of America via Hunton & Williams also proposed illegal methods to sabotage WikiLeaks and target its supporters, including named journalists and lawyers.

  • Datacell announces Complaint against VISA and Mastercard

    DataCell informed VISA/Mastercard and Teller of the intention to file a complaint to the EU Commission regarding VISA's and Mastercard's violation of EU Competition regulations and to initiate a law suit in Denmark to claim damages.

  • Credit card transfers to WikiLeaks are accepted again, but VISA reacts and closes payments gateway hours after

    After having opened up a gateway for DataCell that allowed the processing of payments to WikiLeaks, the payments processing company Valitor (VISA Iceland) decided to close down the gateway and terminate the contract with DataCell. Valitor stated that international card companies had given the orders to close down the gateway. They claimed that processing donations to WikiLeaks is a violation of general terms between the two parties. DataCell has protested this termination and has prepared a com

  • WikiLeaks/Datacell file a Complaint to the European Commission for infringement of the EU Anti-Trust Laws

    DataCell filled a complaint alleging infringements of articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Articles 53 and 54 of the EEA Agreement.

  • Rudolf Elmer is released after 187 days indetention.