An irascible, strong-willed figure, Mr. Wu ended up spending much of that money on his organization, the Laogai Research Foundation, which had worked to expose China’s exploitative use of prison labor, especially involving people jailed for political crimes.

The expenditures included a $2.5 million townhouse in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, a $60,000 raise for Mr. Wu and what the lawsuit contends was a no-show job for his wife. Mr. Wu, the documents show, also spent $800,000 from the fund to defend himself against a number of lawsuits accusing him of sexual harassment or the misuse of federal grants.

According to the foundation’s filings, only $700,000 was distributed to Chinese dissidents or their families, many of whom were forced into poverty by the government in its effort to dissuade others from publicly criticizing the ruling Communist Party.

Of the original $17.3 million, less than $3 million is thought to remain.

Mr. Wu died last year at 79 while on vacation in Honduras. In an interview with The New York Times shortly before his death, he defended his decision to pull back from the fund’s original mission, saying that the intended recipients were too demanding and could not be trusted.

The museum he created in Dupont Circle was closed shortly after his death, and several people involved with his organization, the Laogai Research Foundation, said it had been crippled by internecine fighting and litigation.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the board said it hoped to reopen the museum and resume operations in the near future. “The LRF is currently going through a process of house-cleaning including a thorough independent audit, making a complete inventory, resolving all the past problems including the problems left behind as a result of former employees’ non-cooperation,” the statement said.