If Rich (a lawyer) or Jack (a defendant) want to facilitate donations, then I suggest that you **EACH** create a PayPal account to be used exclusively for that purpose and find some "trusted party" to act as an accounting overseer.

1. Why two separate accounts?

Because some donors will wish to support Jack's defense as a pure statement of civil liberties. They may wish to avoid associating with Jack - the individual - or his unpopular brand of free speech.

2. Why PayPal

Because it is international, ubiquitous, and also allows accepts major credit cards. But it does have a downside...

While PayPal can identify the recipient account (this facilitates donor confidence), it also can identify the donor. This is not ideal. When accepting donations to support an unpopular cause, it would be better if the payment intermediary could guarantee anonymity. I can think of several people and even an organization that is struggling with how to fund Rich while remaining secure in their anonymity. It's not easy!

3. Why an overseer - and How

This is also a challenge. Members of this group have ALREADY seen a collection gone awry (about a year ago). Donors will expect to have the reasonable assurance that funds will be used as promised. That means:

a) A mission statement, including use of funds (be specific)
b) An accounting timetable: Updates, balance sheet (at least cash flow by category)
c) What happens if funds cannot be used as described? This must be addressed. For example, what if all charges against Jack are dropped? What happens if Rich is awash in too much money? Etc.
d) A trusted signature. E.g. a person or organization to hold accountable.

The hardest part about the overseer is finding a party that encourages trust for all concerned. This is a community of strangers and with a serious concern for individual anonymity. It can be difficult to crack this nut if your don't find an IDENTIFIABLE and trustworthy individual who is *NOT* concerned with being anonymous. I suggest that Rich identify an accounting organization with a real address and a track record for auditing books. It needn't be a big firm.

If this last issue can be achieved, then the funds can accept money orders which may widen the pool of available donors. These cash instruments are fairly anonymous for most projects. History has shown that they are only traceable to a particular post office or mini-mart when the purchaser himself is the primary target of an investigation.

Just my 2c