Julian Assange's Real Name: Julian Assange

Quick answer: The WikiLeaks founder is known publicly as Julian Assange. Britannica and Biography.com independently date his birth to July 3, 1971, in Townsville, with Britannica specifying Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Biography.com's longer form, Julian Paul Assange, is recorded below rather than used in the title (Britannica; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

He is known publicly as Julian Assange. Britannica identifies him as an Australian computer programmer born July 3, 1971, in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Biography.com independently dates the same birth to July 3, 1971, in Townsville City, Australia, and gives the fuller form Julian Paul Assange, which is recorded below rather than used in the title. Britannica notes an earlier Australian cybercrime case in which he pleaded guilty to most of 31 counts and received a small fine; a BBC profile independently says he was fined in 1995 for hacking offences.

Career highlights

Britannica says Assange created WikiLeaks in 2006. The BBC says that in 2010 the site released a U.S. military helicopter video from Baghdad and thousands of confidential documents. Britannica says he spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadoran embassy in London and an additional five years in British prison fighting extradition. The BBC independently says he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012, spent seven years there, then five years in a British prison after being ordered to leave and arrested.

Legal cases

The BBC says Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant in 2010 accusing him of rape and molestation, and that in November 2019 they dropped the case because they said too much time had passed.

In a June 26, 2024, court report from Saipan, the BBC said Assange pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in the Northern Mariana Islands two days after leaving a British prison, admitted a felony charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, was sentenced to time already served, and was released to fly to Australia. Britannica independently says that in June 2024 he was freed from British custody as part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, and that in exchange for pleading guilty to a single count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security information, he would be sentenced to time already served and allowed to return to Australia.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Julian Assange are looking for the WikiLeaks founder born in Townsville in 1971. Biography.com's longer form is recorded here but is not used in the title.