Freedom Convoy Funds Were Returned Or Confiscated.

An investigation found that most of the $25 million raised by the “Freedom Convoy” was either returned to donors or ended up in an escrow account pending the outcome of a civil lawsuit. The Public Order Emergency Commission, the public inquiry tasked with looking into the federal government’s use of emergency law during the protests, investigated what happened to donations made through wire transfers, cryptocurrencies and fundraising platforms such as GiveSendGo and GoFundMe. A report released by the commission on Thursday shows that only about $1 million was actually spent by the various parade organizers. One of the convoy leaders told the commission in an interview that they handed out $20,000 in donations to the truckers each day of the demonstration, often handing out envelopes of $2,000 in cash. About $18 million was returned to donors, while the rest was seized and placed in a third-party fund pending civil litigation. The $6.2 million now in escrow came mostly from online fundraisers by Tamara Lich, one of the protest’s main organizers, and from cryptocurrencies seized by authorities. Crowdfunding efforts led by Lich raised nearly $10.1 million from more than 120,000 donors before donations from GoFundMe were suspended and returned. GoFundMe raised concerns about the fundraiser almost immediately because the money was coming in so quickly. The company was particularly concerned about whether the organizers could meet its terms, which stipulated that the funds had to be distributed quickly according to the description provided to donors. The company later contacted Ottawa’s mayor and then-deputy police chief, and both questioned the legitimacy of the protest. “All refunds were initiated through our payment processing partner, including all transaction processing fees and tips, and those funds were returned to donors in the following days,” GoFundMe said in a written statement in early February. More than $12 million was raised for the protesters through fundraisers on the GiveSendGo platform. However, its co-founder and chief financial officer, Jacob Wells, said during a March 9 court appearance that those donations will also be returned. The commission’s report states that the majority of donations were indeed returned. About $800,000 worth of bitcoins were distributed to the protesters. About half of what was collected was taken into escrow between March 7 and 22, but authorities have been unable to recover the rest. Lich also asked for donations via e-transfer. He told the committee on Thursday that most of the money spent was used to buy fuel. A summary of an interview with “Freedom Convoy” treasurer Chad Eros, submitted as evidence to the commission, says the idea to create a non-profit organization to accept donations came from former Conservative Party of Canada MP Russell Hibbert. Eros helped create the group “Freedom 2022 Human Rights and Freedoms” to collect payments so that donations no longer end up in Lich’s personal bank account. He also partnered with Wells to create the GiveSendGo fundraiser. Because the parade organizers had trouble setting up their own accounts to collect donations, Wells then agreed to use his own payment processing services, promising to wire the money back to the organizers, he told the court. Keith Wilson, a lawyer with the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms who supported the organizers, agreed to use his own trust account to collect payments in Canada, the committee report said. However, a payment processor blocked the transfer of money to Wilson’s trust account, and eventually a civil order stopped the transfer of funds altogether. The committee also investigated whether any of the money came from foreign sources. It found that 86 percent of donations to the main GoFundMe campaign came from Canada, and 11 percent came from the United States. Of the nearly $10 million raised through the main GiveSendGo campaign, 47 percent came from Canada and 47 percent from the United States. According to information provided by GiveSendGo, the Freedom Convoy 2022 campaign had 113,152 donors. More than half of the donations to that campaign—59 percent—came from the United States, and about 35 percent came from Canada. More than 6,300 donations, representing more than half a million dollars, came from other countries. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 3, 2022.