[Infowarrior] - Swiss Bank Drops WikiLeaks Case

[Richard Forno]

Swiss Bank Drops WikiLeaks Case
By David Kravets EmailMarch 05, 2008 | 3:49:43 PMCategories: Censorship

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/swiss-bank-drop.html

Julius Baer Bank and Trust dropped its case Wednesday against WikiLeaks,
days after a federal judge allowed the renegade, whistle-blowing site to
resume operations.

Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White signed an order that
effectively took down the WikiLeaks site in the United States and also
locked the WikiLeaks.org domain name to prevent transfer of the domain name
to a different domain registrar. On Friday, after intense media scrutiny,
the judge did an about-face, saying he went too far.

WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower site publishing thousands of leaked documents,
was taken offline in the United States after posting allegedly stolen
documents: individuals' banking records that suggest a Cayman Islands branch
of a Swiss bank was helping customers practice money laundering and tax
evasion across the globe.

Dynadot -- WikiLeaks' U.S. hosting company and domain registrar based in San
Mateo, California -- agreed to take down and lock the site at the behest of
Julius Baer Bank and Trust. Judge White, appointed by the second President
Bush, had originally signed off on the deal.

The bank, in a brief filing to Judge White, did not indicate a reason for
"voluntarily" dismissing the case, but said it reserved the right to refile
the lawsuit.