Wikileaks Claims Bank Blockade

WikiLeaks, the organization that has released thousands of confidential government and corporate documents, issued a statement today saying the organization has suspended its publishing operations and is focusing its resources fighting what it says is a "financial blockade" by U.S. financial firms.

WikiLeaks founder Julain Assange said the website may cease to exist if the blockade wasn't removed. He said that since December, "an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade has been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union. The attack has destroyed 95% of our revenue."

In the statement, Assange claims that several "big banks" are behind the blockade.

WikiLeaks would need $3.5 million over the next 12 months to maintain its current levels of operations, he said.

WikiLeaks in July filed a complaint to the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission, saying Visa and MasterCard had breached antitrust provisions set out by the EU Treaty.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio