WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said in an interview published yesterday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than £1 million (US$1.5 million).
Assange told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.
“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he said. “I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”
The Australian said he would receive US$800,000 from Alfred A Knopf, his US publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth £325,000.
Money from other markets and serialization is expected to raise the total to £1.1 million, he said.
The latest project of Assange’s whistleblower Web site is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Since this latest project began, Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.
Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them “instruments of US foreign policy.”
Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of about 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the the huge leak.
Assange has been staying at a friend’s country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on Dec. 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.
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