Criminal defense attorney Steve Zissou (his real name) has spent years softening the image of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout
Update: On December 8, the U.S. and Russia completed a prisoner swap that freed arms dealer Viktor Bout from American prison in exchange for Griner’s release from a Russian penal colony.
Zissou’s most pressing concern these days isn’t Al Qaeda or Bill Murray. It’s Viktor Bout, his most infamous client and the one he’s most urgently trying to recuperate in the public eye. Bout is a Russian national who is serving out the remainder of a 25-year sentence for multiple charges related to arms trafficking in federal prison. You might know him better as “the merchant of death.” The U.S.
Viktor Bout was such a prominent mover of weapons in the ’90s that “officials in Washington began to see him as the quintessential figure of transnational crime.” That’s according toBout was an active arms dealer for less than a decade but harnessed a talent for aviation logistics to ship weapons to embargoed conflict zones all over the world, including countries like Afghanistan, Togo, and Rwanda — often helping to power bloody civil wars.
Zissou maintains that the pursuit of Bout by the DEA was a disastrous decision that has led directly to harsher treatment of Americans embroiled in legal trouble in Russia, including Brittney Griner. He notes that Bout, 55, could be out as early as 2027, which means his value in any potential swap is rapidly dwindling: “What are you holding on to him for!”
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