In an effort to lose Brittney Griner, the professional basketball star detained in Russia, Biden’s management introduced her to the industry by convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout and sent him back to Russia, Forbes has learned. -government well placed to know.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time WNBA star who also plays professionally in Russia, was arrested in Moscow on Feb. 17 after customs police claimed to have discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Called the “merchant of death,” he encouraged Nicolas Cage’s sniper character in the 2005 film, “Lord of War. “He has been serving a 25-year federal criminal sentence since his 2011 conviction through New York Federal Court for conspiracy to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the FARC, the Colombian terrorist group.
The option of a Griner-Bout swap was reported on May 13 through Tass, Russia’s state news agency, and shown to Forbes through the source. “Currently, talks are underway about the exchange of Bout for Griner,” Tass reported, bringing in “a source from the Public Oversight Commission. “At one point, Moscow-based media outlet Gazeta. Ru had reported in the past that a Griner-Bout exchange was being prepared.
A state department spokesman for EE. UU. se declined to comment. Roger Carstens, the president’s special envoy for hostage affairs, who heads the interagency team running for Griner’s release, had no comment. The same thing happened with Bout’s New York attorney, Steve Zissou. Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent in California, did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite anti-Russian fervor in Washington sparked by President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, the White House struck a deal a month ago to release Trevor Reed, a former Marine who had been held in a Russian prison for two years for allegedly attacking a Moscow police officer. In return, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko, who served 20 years in prison for conspiracy to import $100 million worth of cocaine.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was instrumental in Reed’s release, is also running on behalf of Griner’s circle of relatives at their request, according to Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center. It is also running for the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine detained in Moscow since 2018 for espionage. “The scenario (as you can imagine) is delicate,” Bergman said, declining to comment further.
About a translator in the Soviet army before creating an air transport company carrying tens of millions of weapons that he provided at its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s to sanctioned militias and rebels in conflicts in Africa and Asia. Soft-spoken, erudite, fluent in seven languages and with an IQ of 170, Bout looked more like a university professor than the world’s most infamous illegal arms dealer. His 2008 arrest in Bangkok was part of a covert operation by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The EE. UU. se government opposes the practice of unjustified detention as a bargaining chip because it poses a risk to the protection of everyone who travels, paints and lives abroad, a State Department official told Forbes. This disdain, however, did not stop the branch from helping organize the release of Reed and others.
Griner, 31, is by far the most prominent of the more than a dozen Americans detained in Russia over the past decade. This puts more pressure on the State Department, which is well aware that, as a black lesbian, Griner could be the target. Since the maximum base salary in the WNBA is $228,094 (male stars can earn as much as Steph Curry’s $45 million a year), Griner and many other American women play the WNBA offseason in Russia, where they can earn more than a million dollars. Griner played several years for the Yekaterinburg team.
At first, Griner’s American supporters were generally silent about his fate. The government convinced them that Russia could only temporarily expel him if his case did not make headlines. Once it became clear that Russia planned to stop her, the State Department replaced her. prestige to “unjustly detained”, opening the door to exchange negotiations. Griner’s American supporters spoke out strongly against his imprisonment.
One lingering question is whether a deal with the industry by Griner will get Biden’s approval. Given that President Putin is a “war criminal,” some members of Griner’s team worry that he will hesitate before releasing a notorious Russian arms dealer.
“There is a challenge with the release of an arms dealer convicted by Griner, whose drug possession would probably not be punishable by a fine in the United States,” says Shira Scheindlin, the retired federal judge who presided over Bout’s trial. and had to sentence him to the mandatory minimum of 25 years. “It would be better if Bout, who has already served too long in my opinion, switched to Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. Then there would be an ethical equivalence that few other people can complain about.