Is a U.S. grand jury considering charges against Julian Assange?

That’s what Assange’s lawyer in Britain, Mark Stephens, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera’s David Frost on Sunday:

I think that the Americans are much more interested in terms of the WikiLeaks aspects of this [than the sexual assault charges filed against Assange in Sweden]. And we have heard from the Swedish authorities that there has been a secretly impaneled grand jury in Alexandria, [Va.] … and they are currently investigating this. And indeed the Swedes, we understand, have said that if he comes to Sweden, they will defer their interest in him to the Americans. That shows some level of collusion.

Assange is appearing in court in London tomorrow for a hearing on the Swedish government’s request to extradite him on sexual assault charges.

(Via Wired‘s Threat Level.)