MAJOR QUESTIONS HAVE been raised about the defence fund raised to help Irish journalist Paul Kimmage.

The online cycling community rallied behind the former pro rider when the sport’s governing body, the UCI, signalled their intent to sue Kimmage for ‘defamatory comments’.

Having lost his job at the Sunday Times, Kimmage admits he was left vulnerable in the face of the battle with former friend and UCI chief Pat McQuaid. But when almost $100,000 was raised by supporters throughout the world, he vowed to fight the case.

McQuaid and the sport’s chiefs have since suspended the action but  Kimmage was urged to use the fund to go on the attack. He talks about it here, 4 minutes in or so:

Tonight however, both Cycling News and Cycling Weekly report that some of the money is now missing.

Richard Moore reports that legal action is to be taken against one of the trustees of the account, Aaron Brown, for ‘his alleged failure to provide money from or information relating to the fund.’

Brown who runs a parody Pat McQuaid account tweeted today:

Meanwhile, editor of Cyclismas, Lesli Cohen, — who appears in that Rough Rider promo above — says:

“On Saturday, Paul Kimmage asked Aaron Brown for detailed statements showing the existence of the fund and how much was remaining in the fund. He was not given satisfactory answers by Aaron. Paul then asked his attorney to request that Aaron either provide access to the Kimmage Defense Fund or transfer the remaining funds into an account under the attorney’s care and control. Aaron refused.

“We are now asking the court to compel Aaron to provide a full accounting of all the funds mentioned above and rectify the situation.”

She also tweeted earlier:

Paul Kimmage appeared on RTÉ’s Marian Finucane Show on Saturday morning last and admitted that 2012 was the worst year of his life.

“In January I was made redundant. Two weeks later, I got a lawsuit. It was a personal action against me. As a result of closure to the Armstrong case, there was satisfaction. I was getting praise, but I was still out of work,” he said.

“I got a phone call from someone I’d never spoken to [who said I was being made redundant], and it was a shock. I went from a position where I was bullet proof to walking down to the local unemployment office.”

Now he seems to be facing into another battle. ‘Devastated’ was his reaction to the reports earlier.

Check out the detail here and here.

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