Sigurður Ingi Þórðarson, a key witness in the United States Department of Justice case against Julian Assange, has admitted in a recent interview with Stundin that he fabricated aspects of his testimony against the Wikileaks founder.
Last summer, US officials presented UK authorities with updated documents regarding the indictment against Assange. In light of Sigurður’s recent admission, some of the charges against Assange are now materially contradicted.
Stundin reports that Assange never asked Sigurður to hack the phones or otherwise illegally access the phones of Icelandic MPs. Sigurður now maintains that he was provided with files that contained recordings of MPs from a third party, and that he offered to provide them to Assange. Previously, he had claimed that he acted under Assange’s instruction.
Sigurður worked for some time as a volunteer at Wikileaks, beginning in February 2010 at the age of 17. After moving his way up in the organization, Sigurður contacted the American embassy in Iceland with an email cryptically titled “Regarding an Ongoing Criminal investigation in the United States.” After negotiations, he then began working as an FBI informant within Wikileaks for some time.
Sigurður’s motivations remain unclear, although he has become infamous for his colored past including a laundry list of embezzlement and fraud charges, in addition to sexual crimes, including soliciting underage boys for sex, and offering up to millions of krona and cars in exchange for oral sex.
Julian Assange is currently being detained in Belmarsh Prison in London for violating bail. If extradited to the US, he could face up to 170 years in prison for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.
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