The crowdfunding platform GoFundMe denied seizing Freedom Convoy donations. Lawyers in a submission to the Public Order Emergency Commission said rumours the site failed to promptly refund contributions were a misunderstanding..“The Freedom Convoy fundraiser received a total of approximately $10 million from 133,836 donations,” lawyers wrote the commission..“All donors are expected to see a full refund, including any tip and transaction fee.”.GoFundMe suspended the Freedom Convoy account last February 4 at the request of Ottawa’s mayor. The company at the time posted a website notice saying it would pay refunds by request or allow contributors to “opt for their donations to go to independent charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers and verified by GoFundMe.”.“GoFundMe learned its announcement was being misconstrued and misunderstood,” wrote lawyers. “GoFundMe discovered on several online and social media platforms multiple false assertions accusing GoFundMe of fraud and misappropriating donor funds.”.“Shortly after making its announcement, GoFundMe employees experienced a flood of violent and threatening messages including death threats,” wrote lawyers. “GoFundMe became concerned for the safety of its staff.”.Lawyers named one US social media commentator, Tim Pool, for making what it called misleading statements..“For example, journalist Tim Pool posted to his one million Twitter followers that ‘GoFundMe just stole the Freedom Convoy’s money,’” said the letter to the Commission..A separate fundraiser at GiveSendGo LLC of Boston raised $10.6 million. The funds were frozen February 11 under a Superior Court order sought by the Government of Ontario..Both GiveSendGo and GoFundMe said convoy donations were typically small. GoFundMe executives testified March 17 at the Commons finance committee that 88% of donations originated in Canada. The largest single contribution was $30,000..“There just was not a significant foreign contribution,” said Juan Benitez, president of GoFundMe..Benitez said 12% of donations came from outside of Canada. “There was virtually no, perhaps a handful at most, of donations from Russia. In our opinion and from the evidence we see, there was just no coordinated effort there to have any kind of contribution or impact.”.“Most of the donations were under a hundred dollars,” testified Jacob Wells, co-founder of GiveSendGo. “It’s pretty consistent across the board.”.Cabinet repeatedly claimed foreign extremists were financing the Freedom Convoy. .“It is important that we follow the money because for a number of weeks there have been alarm bells going off about the rate at which the leaders have been able to raise significant funds much of which has been raised from abroad,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said February 16..“We have seen strong evidence it was the intention of those who blockaded our ports of entry in a largely foreign funded, targeted and coordinated attack which was clearly criminally intended to harm Canada,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair told reporters February 16.
