Sun, Mar 9, 2008 - Jeffrey Vernon Merkey wrote:
>
> I am notifying the foundation I was approached on Friday by the Associated
> Press regarding statements attributed to me which are in some way,
> perceived to be related to Mr. Wales private affairs which seem to have
> gotten a great deal of press coverage. I have a detailed collection of
> email exchanges with Mr. Wales and Foundation employees over some period
> of time which seem to be of apparent interest to various parties involved
> in this controversy, and I have informed all parties that I will of course
> disclose such materials subject only to a lawful subpoena or other
> instrument as required by law since they contain confidential discussions
> regarding business dealings with the Foundarion. I have, however, been
> asked for a formal statement admitting or denying various allegations
> which purport to claim my involvement in any of Mr. Wales business
> activities.
>
> Since I am obligated to protect my own good name, I feel compelled to
> address various allegations in order to distance myself from this
> controversy involving Mr. Wales so the facts are not spun into something
> they are not. As such, I issued the following statement to the associated
> press in response to their inquiries regarding my involvement with Mr.
> Wales and his business dealings. This statement was sent on Friday, March
> 7, 2008.
>
>
> --- STATEMENT TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ---
>
> "According to Merkey, in 2006, Wales agreed that in exchange for a
> substantial donation and other financial support of the Wikimedia
> Foundation projects, Wales would use his influence to make Merkey's
> article adhere to Wikipedia's stated policies with regard to internet
> libel "as a courtesty" and place Merkey under his "special protection"
> as an editor. Merkey later withdrew his financial support of the
> Wikipedia project after reviewing evidence of diversion and
> mismanagement of the charities funds by Wales and the Wikimedia Board of
> Trustees and was immediately banned from the Wikipedia site by the
> Arbitration Committee for frivilous and unsubstanciated claims after he
> terminated the payments of $5,000.00 per year to the Wikimedia
> Foundation."
>
>
> --- END OF STATEMENT ---
>
> I hope this clarifies the rumors and allegations being posted on various
> blogs. As I am certain everyone is aware, I have continued development
> of my Wikipedia projects and kept a safe distance from the Foundation
> since these events, and I plan to continue to develop tools and refine
> machine translation for Cherokee and other languages, however, I have
> little interest in becoming embroilled in the internal affairs of the
> Foundation or Wikipedia at present, and in fact, have no need to do so in
> order to accomplish my objectives and use Wikipedia's high quality content
> for my projects.
>
> I wish Mr. Wales and everyone the very best, and hope these issues can be
> sorted out.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Jeffrey Vernon Merkey

Sun, Mar 9, 2008 - Jimmy Wales reply:
I encourage anyone who is tempted to believe this story to consider the
source.