In 2019, Virgil Griffith talked about Ethereum in North Korea. The Ethereum developer received an indictment in the US for conspiracy.
Virgil Griffith, a developer for the Ethereum network, apprehended by US authorities in 2019, pleaded guilty to charges related to conspiracy to help North Korea evade financial penalties on September 27, 2021.
Griffith traveled to North Korea in 2019, where he offered talks to citizens of that country about cryptocurrencies, at a conference organized by the local government.
Upon Griffith’s return from North Korea in November 2019, he got captured at the Los Angeles airport and released the following month.
But on July 21, 2021, Griffith got arrested again for violating the rules of his parole, which prohibited him from accessing his accounts on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
This morning, after hearings that have been active since 2020, and after delays and difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis, Griffith pleaded guilty to having the intentions to help North Korea evade the financial sanctions imposed by the US against that country.
Pleading Guilty to the Charges
The hearing happened in the Southern District Court of New York City. According to the InnerCityPress, which is covering the whole event in said court, Griffith went back to prison after pleading guilty to the charges in an unexpected move.
The documents where Virgil Griffith pleaded not guilty got issued yesterday, September 26. But today, the decision changed untimely for reasons not fully clarified to the date.
Griffith would have set an agreement with the judges to face a sentence that could surpass 5 and 6 years, although the maximum could be 20 years. The case reached a closure, in the opinion of the judges.
Griffith’s lawyers will now have access to two individual accounts of the Coinbase exchange, from where they will be able to charge for the services offered to their client.
Also, on September 22, a defense motion was denied to summon Tju Liang Chua, a Singaporean lawyer who is the General Counsel of the Ethereum Foundation (Ethereum Foundation). The judge also denied that this lawyer testified on video.
Journalist Ethan Lou, who traveled to North Korea with Griffith, claimed that the court’s impediment to Griffith from having Tju Lian Chua’s testimony may have influenced the defendant’s decision to plead guilty.
The Virgil Griffith Case
The Southern District Court of New York, the local court of law, managed a statement detailing Griffith’s guilty plea and the entire context of the case.
Griffith knew that North Korea could use these services to evade and avoid US penalties, and finance its nuclear energy program and other illicit activities,” the statement read.
Authorities claim that Griffith and his co-conspirators instructed attendees on cryptocurrencies as a tool to evade sanctions through laundered money, answering specific questions from individuals Griffith knew from the North Korean government.
Griffith intended to exchange cryptocurrencies between North and South Korea easier, knowing that he was infringing.
The court explained that the International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism Unit of its office led on the case. The FBI and its Counterintelligence Division, among other police entities, took part in the investigative work.
By: Jenson Nuñez
