Nah
> Martyr? With all the bad press, unwarranted or not...
Yes martyr. Kill or imprison a person for exposing truth (no matter what their motivation) and all the bad press in the world won't swing public opinion against them. Whether it is long-lasting or not, surely US govt can see they would not be doing themselves any favours by hounding him.
If a US extradition request came in and snaked him out from under the Swedish beak (a possibility this Knowles guy is positing) then there's no justice seen to be done in Sweden, just about every conspiracy theory going gets instantly confirmed, and the Assange saga suddenly rockets off in a whole new direction with the world's media chasing it. Best outcome I can see as far as they are concerned is that he gets extradited to Sweden, found guilty of the current grubby charges, is utterly discredited and can then be dealt with quietly a few years down the line one way or another.
Then again as you point out there are always the insurance files.