Was Paul Whelan Dishonorably Discharged?

The largest East-to-West prisoner exchange ever took place in July 2024. American President Joe Biden and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, struck a deal to trade 16 Americans and 10 Russians, finally bringing wrongfully convicted citizens – in addition to sleeper agents, spies, and even a convicted assassin – back to their respective shores.   

Among their number was Paul Whelan, a former Marine, who was sentenced to hard labor for more than five years. Whelan maintains his innocence, and claims he was set up by a Russian former friend. His background in the Marines made him the perfect scapegoat – even if he was dishonorably discharged years before.

Paul Whelan’s military record, explained

While the specifics of Whelan’s record haven’t been disclosed by the military court, the Washington Post was able to obtain a redacted copy of his records. Whelan started his career as a police officer in the early 90s before transitioning into the Marines. Some aspects of his law enforcement career seem to have been exaggerated or completely fabricated, which led his military colleagues to consider him naïve.

In 1994, Whelan enlisted as a Marine Corps reservist. He rose through the ranks, eventually landing the role of staff sergeant. He deployed twice to Iraq, where he worked in office management with roles like administrative clerk and administrative chief. None of these roles appear to have been linked to Russia, though some of his fellow soldiers recalled Whelan learning Russian while overseas.

In 2008, Whelan was convicted of attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using another person’s Social Security number, and 10 instances of making and uttering checks without sufficient funds in his account. He was sentenced to 60 days of restriction to his military base and knocked down 2 paygrades.

He received a bad-conduct discharge and was formally separated from the Marines Corps in December of 2008. His demotions saw him ejected from the Corps with the rank of Private.

Despite his somewhat questionable military history, Whelan –alongside Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich – added their notches to the Hostages and Wrongful Detainees flag. Pointing to three tally marks along the bottom of the flag, he told onlookers, “This is us down here, those last three, that’s us.”