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Steve Zissou, the lawyer representing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, went viral online amid WNBA star Brittney Griner’s release from Russia in exchange for Bout being freed from the US in a prisoner swap deal.
Griner was arrested earlier this year for carrying less than a gram of hash oil, a cannabis product considered illegal in Russia, in her luggage.
Meanwhile, Bout was sentenced to 25 years of prison in the US in 2011 on alleged charges of conspiracy to kill Americans, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and providing materials to a terrorist organization.
While Viktor Bout has consistently denied the charges against him, Russia continued to ask for his release from the US, calling the verdict “baseless and biased” in 2012. Following months of negotiations, both Griner and Bout returned to their respective homelands earlier this week.
Back in August, Bout’s attorney Steve Zissou said that he was “confident” that the then-proposed prisoner swap will successfully be executed between the two countries. At the time, he told CNN:
“I do have some information about the progress of how things are going… But that information comes from the Russian side as opposed to the American side. I’m confident this is going to get done.”
Zissou added:
“Look, it’s no secret they’ve been wanting him back for several years now. They’ve been trying to get him back for decades. That’s not something they’ve ever kept secret.”
As per Steve Zissou’s prediction, the one-on-one prisoner swap between Russia and the US took place on December 8, returning Brittney Griner to the US and Viktor Bout to Russia.
Everything to know about Steve Zissou
Steve Zissou is a professional attorney and criminal defense lawyer based in Queens. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is skilled in federal and state criminal law, appeals, and cannabis legalization.
He is also a Russian expert and proficient in dealing with the media. Zissou reportedly completed his education from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.
Zissou previously served as the Assistant District Attorney in Queens and currently serves as an attorney for his own company Steve Zissou & Associates.
According to the Intelligencer, Zissou’s office is based on a plain Queens building full of private investigators and personal injury lawyers. He reportedly believes in second chances and maintains even being a part of Al-Qaeda is not “the end of the story” unless “they’re on the business end of a drone strike.”
Speaking to the publication about his infamous client Viktor Bout and the detention of Brittney Griner, Zissou said that he knew that the lives of his client and Griner had become intertwined the moment the US basketball star’s arrest was announced.
Bout hired Zissou a couple of years ago to further explore the possibilities of his release from the U.S. Since then, the latter has worked to prove that his client is innocent and has advocated the same message in the press and in front of authorities.
The attorney reportedly denied all claims against the alleged arms dealer and said:
“No money was ever exchanged. No weapons were ever exchanged. He was retired, living in Moscow, and targeted specifically with a made-up crime simply so that he could be charged in the U.S. The U.S. is the only country that prosecutes cases like that. And they asked that Viktor be sentenced to life without parole. Life without parole! For a talk crime!”
Zissou is also not fond of Bout’s nickname the “Merchant of Death” and the usage of the same in the media. The attorney also believes that the DEA’s pursuit of Bout was a “disastrous decision” that prompted Russia to treat US citizens caught in legal trouble in the country harshly.
Amid Bout’s repeated rejection in the appeals court to get a new trial, Steve Zissou first considered the idea of involving the State Department and proposing a prisoner swap in which his client would be traded to Russia for an American citizen who was being wrongfully detained in the country.
Zissou said that when he first started working on the proposal, two US citizens were eligible for the swap, former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was detained in Russia on espionage charges, and Trevor Reed, who was detained over alleged assault charges.
The attorney said that he knew the State Department would consider the proposal presented by Bout’s lawyer, but he believed they would listen to the Whelan and Reed families. Shortly after, Steve Zissou began encouraging US families to urge the State Department to trade their loved ones from Russia in exchange for Bout.
Brittney Griner’s arrest made Zissou further confident that the White House and State Department would eventually consider a swap due to outcry across the US for the high-profile celebrity status of the detainee.
Amid the ongoing negotiations, Zissou believed that the US and Russia were “on the precipice of a swap.” However, he also rightfully predicted that America would not get both Griner and Paul Whelan back for the swap deal.
Twitter reacts to Viktor Bout’s attorney Steve Zissou’s name
In the wake of Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout’s prison swap and return to their respective countries, social media users also discovered more about the latter’s lawyer Steve Zissou.
While Zissou’s stance on the prisoner swap and his work for Bout came to light, netizens were also left surprised over the lawyer sharing the name of a Bill Murray character from the 2004 adventure comedy-drama film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Many also took to Twitter to share their opinion on Bout’s lawyer.
Even before his name went viral on social media, Zissou told the Intelligencer that the makers of the Bill Murray film consulted and credited him to avoid any potential legal issues over the usage of his name.
Although The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was not inspired from the attorney’s life, the publication noted that he even had an artisanal Bill Murray coaster at his Queens office.
