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Yahoo accused of mismanaging fund for dissidents in China

FILE - This Jan. 14, 2015, file photo shows a sign outside Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. A new lawsuit accuses Yahoo of turning its back on Chinese dissidents that it promised to help after the company fingered other activists at the request of China's government. The allegations are outlined in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, April 11, 2017, in a Washington, D.C., federal court by a group of dissidents who contend Yahoo mismanaged a $17 million fund set up to provide them with financial aid. Yahoo created the fund a decade ago after being skewered in the U.S. Congress for its conduct in China. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - This Jan. 14, 2015, file photo shows a sign outside Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. A new lawsuit accuses Yahoo of turning its back on Chinese dissidents that it promised to help after the company fingered other activists at the request of China's government. The allegations are outlined in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, April 11, 2017, in a Washington, D.C., federal court by a group of dissidents who contend Yahoo mismanaged a $17 million fund set up to provide them with financial aid. Yahoo created the fund a decade ago after being skewered in the U.S. Congress for its conduct in China. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) FILE - This Jan. 14, 2015, file photo shows a sign outside Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. A new lawsuit accuses Yahoo of turning its back on Chinese dissidents that it promised to help after the company fingered other activists at the request of China's government. The allegations are outlined in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, April 11, 2017, in a Washington, D.C., federal court by a group of dissidents who contend Yahoo mismanaged a $17 million fund set up to provide them with financial aid. Yahoo created the fund a decade ago after being skewered in the U.S. Congress for its conduct in China. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A lawsuit accused Yahoo of breaking a financial promise it made to Chinese dissidents almost a decade ago as penance for helping the Chinese government find and jail other activists.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., federal court by a group of Chinese dissidents, contends that Yahoo mismanaged a $17 million fund set up to provide financial aid to activists.

EMBROILED IN CHINA

Yahoo created the human rights fund in 2007, days after U.S. legislators roasted the company for providing authorities with information that led to the imprisonment of two Chinese dissidents, Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao.

The complaint alleges that Yahoo allowed Harry Wu, a now-deceased dissident from China, to spend about $13 million of the fund enriching himself and pursuing other projects tied to his interests.