Give Send Riot: Jan. 6 Defendants Have Raised More than $3.5 Million Through Christian Crowdfunding Website
Give Send Riot: Jan. 6 Defendants Have Raised More than $3.5 Million Through Christian Crowdfunding Website
The campaigns have successfully deployed a “toxic mixture” of “faith, culture, politics, and conspiracy theories.”
Read my latest reporting on the crowdfunding campaigns of the Capitol Riot defendants in Rolling Stone:
The rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 want the public’s help to pay their legal defense fees — and they’re getting it.
Among the approximately 800 individuals that have been arrested and charged with participating in the Capitol Riot, there are more than 100 crowdfunding campaigns that are soliciting donations for legal bills and other expenses. More than $3.5 million has been raised through the Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, and another $100,000 has been raised through other crowdfunding websites including Donor Box and Our Freedom Funding.
These campaigns have remarkable similarities, and experts who reviewed the campaigns noted the “toxic mixture” of “faith, culture, politics and conspiracy theories.”
Video, witness testimony, and countless social media posts confirm that Jan. 6 was a violent riot aimed at overturning the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign victory over Donald Trump. But in their crowdfunding campaigns, the defendants are weaving an alternative reality: they were peaceful protesters and “Christian Patriots” who protested a stolen election and are now being persecuted for their political beliefs.
It’s a narrative undercut by the facts, but that hasn’t stopped it from being an effective fundraising tool.
The vast majority of crowdfunding campaigns supporting defendants are hosted on GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdfunding site which has been plagued by hacks and leaks of personal and financial data. An examination of the leaked data shows that there have been more than 56,000 donations made to the 100 campaigns supporting the defendants hosted on GiveSendGo. The leaked data has exposed the names, emails, zip codes, and other personal information of those that have donated to the campaigns. GiveSendGo did not respond to a request for comment.
Read the entire article in Rolling Stone.