Wikipedia
co-founder
Jimmy
Wales is facing more fallout from his brief relationship with talk show
pundit
Rachel
Marsden.
Marsden put some of Wales's clothes on
eBay after he
dumped her
via his Wikipedia entry, but the online spat has now ignited interest in other
aspects of Wales's conduct.
Danny Wool, a former member of the Wikipedia team, has come forward with
allegations of
misuse
of expenses by Wales.
"Jimbeau [Jimmy Wales] was certainly not frugal in his spending on his
endless trips abroad, but when it came to handing in receipts he could be
somewhat careless," Wool wrote on his blog.
"At one point he owed the Foundation some $30,000 in receipts, and this while
we were preparing for the audit. Not a bad sum, considering that many of those
trips had fat honoraria, which Jimbeau kept for himself."
Wales has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he claimed less than he
spent. He has been supported by other members of the Wikipedia board.
Foundation executive director Sue Gardner described the allegations as
unfounded. "Jimmy has never been reimbursed by the Foundation for personal
expenses, nor has he ever asked to be," she said.
"The expenses he incurs on behalf of Wikipedia are modest and in no way
unseemly.
"Jimmy has consistently put the Foundation's interests ahead of his own, and has
erred on the side of paying for his own Wikipedia-related expenditures rather
than the reverse."
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article