The New York Times said in a blogpost that the investigation into Wen had taken a year and that the newspaper knew of the likely impact on its business prospects in China.
It invested in a Chinese-language version of its website only recently and will lose out on advertising revenue if it remains unavailable to the public.
“I’m very proud of this work,” New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger was quoted as saying in the post. “Our business is to publish great journalism. Does this have a business impact? Of course.”
In June, business news agency Bloomberg published an investigation into the finances of Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to be promoted to president at a Communist Party congress next month.
Bloomberg’s website is still blocked and Chinese banks were encouraged to stop using financial data provided by the US company.
Beijing on Friday dismissed the NYT report as an attempt to tarnish China, with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei telling reporters in response to a question on the article: “Some reports smear China and have ulterior motives.”