A drowning man will hold anything to survive. I think these men move towards Russia because it might be the only country that can protect them from prosecution and going to jail in the US. It's just like befriending an enemy of your enemy for protection. But many people see them as freedom fighters. Yesterday, Assange was able to raise $872,000 in a few hours which exceeded the $520,000 emergency appeal he needed to cover his transportation and other expenses.

I read a publication where Julian Assange was thanking the US for blocking donations to WikiLeaks through payment companies like Visa and MasterCard. His reason was that this blocking made him accept donations in cryptocurrencies. Assange believed that it was this policy that made WikiLeaks to invest in Bitcoin. I doubt if Assange still possesses those donated coins. Maybe he might have spent most of them on legal fees and other expenses. He had to rely on donations.to cover jet and recovery costs, so I doubt if he is still rich.