CrowdJustice has refused to host a crowdfunder for legal fees to challenge the proscription of Palestine Action before the UK supreme court, citing US sanctions imposed on the direct action group.

The UK-based crowdfunding platform told the group it could not carry the fundraiser because its payment processor, the US company Stripe, "cannot support accounts or transactions" linked to Palestine Action. The decision cuts off one of the principal online routes for financing the group's legal challenge to the ban.

The blocked fundraiser relates to the challenge to the proscription of Palestine Action, which the UK supreme court has allowed to proceed. On 30 July, the court ruled that the group's co-founder can challenge the ban on the organisation.

CrowdJustice's position illustrates the extraterritorial reach of US sanctions into UK legal fundraising. Because the platform depends on Stripe, a US-headquartered payments company, US sanctions designations can determine which litigants may raise money through it — even where the underlying litigation sits before a British court.

For practitioners, the consequence is straightforward. Clients designated under US sanctions programmes, or linked to designated entities, may find mainstream UK crowdfunding platforms unavailable for litigation funding, regardless of the merits of their case in domestic courts. Solicitors advising such clients should factor payment-processing dependencies into funding strategies at an early stage and consider alternative funding arrangements that do not route through US-linked financial infrastructure.