This is entirely plausible and I would like to see it come from Wikileaks itself. It's worth noting that Applebaum is of course not famous just for his association with Wikileaks, but many other projects before 2010.

Also, Twitter successfully fought the court order to seal the federal requests for Applebaum's twitter contacts. Was Aaron Swartz's name found among the named associates of Applebaum? http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20027893-281.html