SAN FRANCISCO - A new lawsuit accuses Yahoo of turning its back on Chinese dissidents that it had promised to help as penance for previously turning over information about other activists to the Chinese government.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., federal court by a group of Chinese dissidents, contends that Yahoo mismanaged a $17 million fund it set up to provide financial aid to them.

Yahoo created the human rights fund a decade ago. That gesture followed a humiliating scandal during which U.S. legislators roasted Yahoo for providing authorities with information that led to the imprisonment of two Chinese activists.

The complaint alleges Yahoo allowed Harry Wu, a now-deceased dissident from China, to spend about $13 million of the fund on personal interests. Yahoo declined to comment.