View full sizeProtesters serve lunch at the Occupy Portland encampment in Lownsdale and Chapman squares in downtown.Organizers of Occupy Portland say they fear as much as $20,000 donated to the group through a PayPal account has disappeared.
They also say the group's finance committee has hijacked the demonstration's Internet domain name and filed for incorporation against the wishes of the group's decision-making body.
Occupy Portland
The demonstrator who filed the papers with the state said Wednesday she did so to protect the protest, and she has received death threats as a result.
Jordan LeDoux, who works for the media, communications, public relations and web team of the demonstration, said Wednesday that since 8 p.m. Tuesday, Occupy Portland has not been able to get into its Internet page, occupyportland.org.
LeDoux says a member of the finance committee apparently took control of the website.
with the Oregon secretary of state's office on Monday show that an entity called "Occupy Portland" was registered as a nonprofit.
But LeDoux said the demonstration's General Assembly, where the protesters come to consensus on issues, had repeatedly declined to incorporate with the state.
The "registered agent" for the incorporated body is listed as Reid Jackson of Hillsboro. LeDoux said Jackson was also on Occupy Portland's finance committee.
In a telephone interview, Jackson said she undertook the incorporation "to protect these people. ... I've tried explaining it to them, but they won't listen to me. There is someone who has infiltrated the group and is trying to capitalize on the money."
Jackson would not identify the "infiltrator," but she said that disputes over the finance committee had escalated to the point where she had received death threats.
About 500 people have been camping in Chapman and Lownsdale squares since Oct. 6 as part of a global movement to protest the loss of jobs in the United States, corporate money in politics and unfair banking practices.
While camping in city parks is illegal, Portland's government, which is in sympathy with the protest, has permitted Occupy Portland to stay put.
LeDoux said Occupy Portland's organizers believe that "between $10,000 and $20,000" has disappeared from the protest's control. LeDoux said a finance committee member linked his PayPal account to occupypdx.org for donations.
LeDoux said the General Assembly had repeatedly asked the finance committee, of eight to 10 members, to provide an accounting of the money coming in, but the finance committee never did so.
The development came just hours before
which could be the largest since the original march Oct. 6 that kicked off the protest in Portland.
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