Yahoo is being sued by a group of Chinese dissidents for not properly handling a fund that was meant to aid Chinese political prisoners. The lawsuit claims Yahoo looked the other way as Harry Wu, the fund manager, spent millions on real estate, high salaries, and legal expenses.
The fund grew out of an instance in 2002 when Yahoo gave user data to the Chinese government, resulting in the arrest of two dissidents.
In 2007, Yahoo settled with the affected families and the company agreed to form a fund for those affected by harsh Chinese policies.
The lawsuit is coming from seven former prisoners and the wife of another.
Although Yahoo had millions of dollars in its Yahoo Human Rights Fund Trust, it failed to help practically anyone. Improper expenditures of $13 million were made "in less than 10 years" and the expenditures had "nothing to do with providing humanitarian assistance to imprisoned Chinese dissidents."
Only $700,000 ever went to humanitarian aid.
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