A legal fund dedicated to the defense of cycling journalist Paul Kimmage against a UCI lawsuit is missing $64,000.
The Kimmage Defense Fund was founded in 2012 after the UCI sued Kimmage for supposedly defamatory comments he made about their handling of the Lance Armstrong doping case. The fund was spearheaded by Aaron Brown, otherwise known as the Twitter personality UCI_Overlord and the founder of the satirical cycling blog .
Within months, the fund raised nearly $100,000 in Kimmage’s defense. However, only part of his legal fees have been paid for and he cannot access or locate the remaining funds, according to .
Brown claims that funds remain in the PayPal account he created on Kimmage’s behalf but are tied-up in legal battle with Lesli Cohen, a former business parter of Brown’s and an advocate for Kimmage’s defense. Meanwhile, the UCI has dropped its suit against the journalist.
“When that lawsuit was suspended,” Brown said, “The agreement was that we would not have any more action and Paul’s legal bills were paid. As it stands now, the legal action is still suspended and if Paul incurs any more legal bills in defence then the fund will pay it. Once the case is over the funds should be dispensed to the donors.”