Berlin (CNN) -- WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange went from being "imaginative, energetic (and) brilliant" to a "paranoid, power-hungry, megalomaniac," a former colleague charges in a new book out Thursday. Assange also has "a very free and easy relationship with the truth," Daniel Domscheit-Berg claims in the book, "Inside WikiLeaks." WikiLeaks also lost key software that lets users submit documents anonymously when Domscheit-Berg and another colleague left, he says. WikiLeaks blasted the defector in a statement shortly before the book launch. Domscheit-Berg "damaged" WikiLeaks infrastructure and "stole material," WikiLeaks said Wednesday, and the website said it is taking legal action against him-- though Domscheit-Berg denied that.
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Julian Assange read a former colleague the USA Patriot Act in firing him, the defector claims
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WikiLeaks accuses Daniel Domscheit-Berg of damage and theft
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It denies he ever played a major role in the organization
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Domscheit-Berg has started a rival website
The defector paints a picture of Assange as becoming increasingly authoritarian over time, saying @placeholder would threaten him.