E-mails leaked today from a private US intelligence company directly mention charges drawn up in the US against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Melbourne, Australia paper The Age obtained the e-mails from intelligence company Stratfor through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks. The primary e-mail cited by The Age was from the company's vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton. Burton was responding to a media report concerning US investigations into WikiLeaks when he wrote: "We have a sealed indictment on Assange." The e-mail went on to highlight the sensitivity of this information ("Pls protect" and "Not for Pub[lication]").

WikiLeaks recently began running more than 5 million e-mails from Stratfor. The site said these e-mails show "how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients.

Burton is a former chief of counterterrorism in the US State Department diplomatic security service. Stratfor provides intelligence and analysis to corporate and government subscribers and is based in Austin, Texas. All this news comes as Assange awaits a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden for questioning in relation to sexual assault allegations. Assange expressed fear that extradition to Stockholm could lay the foundation for later extradition to the US.