Former WikiLeaks associate claims he destroyed potentially explosive documents
22 Aug 2011
According to Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former spokesperson for WikiLeaks in Germany, he destroyed more than 3,500 documents before splitting with Julian Assange.
He told German publication Spiegel Online (translation) that he permanently deleted the files to ensure that the sources were not compromised.
The files reportedly included US government's 'no fly' list, material from the Bank of America, as also emails from, a right wing German political party, the NPD.
According to WikiLeaks, Domscheit-Berg had been suspend from employment with the group this time last year as he "repeatedly attempted to blackmail WikiLeaks" by threatening to make these private communications available "to forces that oppose WikiLeaks".
Reiterating a previous statement, the group said "Mr. Domscheit-Berg has illegitimately taken this data along with Wikileaks' secure online submissions system, funds and internal documentation. He has sabotaged years of work, none of which was his own. We have had to recreate this work under difficult circumstances. This rebuilding comes at a significant cost to Wikileaks, which is under an unlawful Washington instigated financial blockade enforced by the big US financial companies."
According to analysts, based on statements from WikiLeaks, the documents would have been explosive to say the least, considering the topics they covered.
The documents were taken by Domscheit-Berg when he left WikiLeaks and were destroyed, according to Der Spiegel, to prevent the sources from being compromised.
