LITERARY SDNY, July 17 – One thing about the Wikileaks data-dumps was that they often resurfaced, made relevant again by current events.

As Kurt Wheelock began digging through the more than 300 references to Wikileaks in US Federal court cases, he came across the State Department memo about bribes paid to witnesses against Viktor Bout in Thailand.

Now in 2022 there was talk of Bout being traded by the Administration for WNBA player Brittney Griner.

The leaked memo: "Classified By: Ambassador Eric G. John, reason: 1.4 (b) and (d). 1. (S) Summary: The Ambassador on March 4 pressed Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to ensure retraction or rebuttal of false court testimony in the extradition proceedings of Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, which resume March 6. Suthep said Prime Minister Abhisit had previously discussed the matter with him, and he would investigate and take appropriate action."

Bout was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, before then-Judge Shira A. Scheindlin.

She shot down Bout's argument as being "based on two 'secret United States State Department cables which [were] leaked to Wikileaks' that reveal 'a multi-pronged effort to seek a successful reversal [of the Thai lower court’s denial of extradition] during the appeals...