criminal defense attorney steve Zissou and his client, the convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who serving a 25 year sentence in federal prison, look forward to sharing big news when/if the prisoner swap takes place.

The White House and the Kremlin seem to agree in surrendering bout in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner who is in a Russian prison for eight months for having less than a gram of cannabis oil in her suitcase when entering a Moscow airport to end their seventh season with Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg.

Continue reading: Why don’t Russian billionaires and owners of Brittney Griner’s basketball team help get her out of jail?

‘Listen, it’s no secret, they want him [Bout] been back for several years,” Zissou told CNN a few days earlier Griner was convicted to nine years in a Russian penal colony on August 4th.

New York Magazine speaks to Viktor Bout’s attorney

“As the WNBA entered the offseason this month, many Griners fans and supporters awaited responses from Griner’s agent, from the league, from the White House — from anyone in a position of authority — about when she might be coming home. But if you really want to know what your future holds, you had better ask Zissou.” wrote Amos Barschad.

So what gives? Zissou claims so Bout’s arrest in 2008 and extradition in 2010 was wrong as he was specifically targeted with a fabricated crime so he could be charged in the US. The result directly led to harsher treatment of Americans caught up in legal troubles in Russia, including Brittney Griner, Zissou claims.

The Queens-based attorney noted that Bout55, could be out as early as 2027, meaning its value is “diminishing rapidly” in a potential swap, not good news for Griner.

Zissou had thought of the prisoner exchange but thought the State Department would never listen to him. However, you could listen to the families of the alumni Marine Paul…