After pleading guilty, Virgil Griffith (an Ethereum developer) was sentenced in America to five years and three month imprisonment. He pleaded guilty at a North Korea crypto conference to a charge of speaking on the subject. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), his presentation provided the Kim Jong Un regime with “technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions.”
Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, is being held in prison for violating North Korean sanctions
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Virgil Griffith to 63 month imprisonment Tuesday.
Griffith pled guilty to the one-count conspiracy to violate International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This charge can lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. In a plea agreement, the prosecutors stipulated that they would not seek more than six years in prison.
In November 2019, the Ethereum developer was taken into custody in Los Angeles. He is charged with violating the IEEPA “by traveling to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) in order to deliver a presentation and technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions,” the DOJ said.
After Judge Castel’s second arrest, the crypto-crazy was taken into federal custody in July 2017. The federal judge stated that he fled because of a rise in his crypto holdings. According to reports, he was arrested while logging in to his Coinbase account.
Inner City Press quoted Judge Castel as saying Tuesday: “Some says Mr. Griffith is being persecuted for promoting crypto. But that’s not what this case is about. He pleaded guilty just days before his trial. It was an intentional violation of sanctions, which are intended to avoid military conflict.” The judge concluded:
Virgil Griffith does not have any ideology. He’ll play off both sides, as long as he is at the center. He was sentenced to 63 months imprisonment and a $100,000 fine.
The ‘US vs. Virgil Griffith’ Court Case
The case followed Griffith’s visit to North Korea in order to attend the “Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference” or “the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference” in April 2019, the DOJ explained. This court document details:
Griffith, despite being denied travel permission from the U.S. Department of State, presented at DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference knowing full well that it would be in violation of sanctions against DPRK.
The DOJ noted that at no time did Griffith, a U.S. citizen living in Singapore, obtain permission from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “to provide goods, services, or technology to the DPRK.”
The Department of Justice further added that “Griffith and other attendees discussed how the DPRK could use blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and evade sanctions” at the conference. Another 100 people attended the conference.
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