According to Blacklock’s Reporter, crowdfunding firm GoFundMe denied seizing donor funds after it closed a fundraising account for the trucker protests in Ottawa.
Rumors that GoFundMe was unable to quickly refund the donation were a misunderstanding, according to a letter from an attorney sent to the Public Order Emergency Committee investigation.
“All donors are expected to receive a full refund, including tips and transaction fees,” the letter said.
GoFundMe suspended the Freedom Convoy fundraiser on February 4th. Former GoFundMe president Juan Benitez said neither the federal government nor local government contacted him to end the fundraiser. He said he actively sought them out after hearing their statements in the media.
At the time, GoFundMe said donors could choose another independent charity to donate funds to or request a refund, but rumors spread on social media that people criticized GoFundMe. Lawyers say this has become misunderstood since it became so.
“Shortly after the announcement, GoFundMe employees experienced a flood of violent and threatening messages, including death threats,” the attorney wrote. The letter mentions Tim Pool, who on Twitter told his 1 million followers that “GoFundMe stole Freedom Convoy money.”
Released by GoFundMe statement On February 5, it said it would automatically refund donors to “simplify the process” due to “donor feedback.”
$10 million, mostly Canadian
“According to our records, 88% of the donated funds came from Canada, and 86% of our donors came from Canada,” Benitez said in March.
Funding for the protest amounted to about $10 million from more than 133,000 donors, according to a letter from a lawyer to the Emergency Act Investigation.
Benitez said GoFundMe can detect malicious activity, but nothing serious enough to report. “Our tool flagged some behavior that we deemed unacceptable and removed some donations,” he said.
“There were very few donations from Russia, a handful at best. In our opinion and the evidence we see, there was absolutely no concerted effort to contribute or make an impact.”
several government officials was suggested Protests may be foreign-funded.
“For weeks, alarm bells have been ringing about the speed with which leaders have been able to raise large sums of money, much of it coming from overseas, so it’s important that we track the money. ‘ said the Minister of Public Security. Marco Mendicino said on Feb. 16.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said at a press conference: “The blockade of Canada’s ports of entry in a highly targeted and coordinated attack, largely financed by foreign capital, clearly criminally harms Canada. “We have strong evidence that there was intent,” he said. 16.
According to the minutes of the October 18 Commission hearing, the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency told the federal government on February 6, “CSIS has no interest in receiving foreign funding from other provinces to support it.” I never saw him come in.”
Noé Chartier contributed to this report.
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David Wagner is a reporter for the Epoch Times based in Winnipeg.