Julian Assange Spent His $1.3 Million Book Advance in Six Months

Perhaps Julian Assange is the type to stress-shop, because in just six short months the Wikileaks founder has spent his entire $1.3 million book advance, reports Epicenter's Kim Zetter. Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography is being published on Thursday despite Assange's attempt to cancel the project. As we noted at the time, his book deal "fell through" back in June. But he wasn't in a position to call it off because, as Zetter writes, "According to the publisher, he had by then already tied up the advance money he had received for the project and therefore could not pay it back."  The Independent reported, "It is believed the money was placed into escrow which means that Mr Assange’s lawyers have first claim on it once their legal bills are due." That's sort of ironic since it sounds like it's his rape case in Sweden that may have soured him on the idea of writing a book. According to Zetter, "The memoir got 'too personal' for the transparency guru, who suddenly decided in March after reviewing the first draft of the manuscript that 'all memoir is prostitution.'"