ETH Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to 5 Years for North Korea Crypto Trip
Categories: Crypto News US
A New York US Federal Court judge has sentenced former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith to 63 months in prison and fined him $US100,000 for speaking at a 2019 crypto conference in North Korea and teaching North Koreans how to use crypto to evade US sanctions.
ETH Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to Years for North Korea Crypto Trip. After initially protesting his innocence, Griffith eventually pleaded guilty to the charge of violating presidential executive orders designed to exclude the North Korean regime from the international banking system as punishment for repeatedly threatening to launch nuclear weapons against the US.
Following Early Support, Seriousness Becomes Clear
Many in the crypto community initially considered the charges against Griffith an overreaction. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, for one, signed an online petition to free Griffith in 2019 and tweeted his support. ETH Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to Years for North Korea Crypto Trip. The investigators also found Griffith had shared text messages with North Korean citizens assuring them he’d be able to help them get around US sanctions using crypto, in one message telling them that setting up an Ethereum node in North Korea will “make it possible to avoid sanctions on money transfers”.
North Korea Uses Crypto to Fund Illegal Activities
The actions of Griffith were treated so seriously by US authorities partly because the North Korean regime has been enthusiastic to use stolen crypto to skirt sanctions and fund its illegal weapons programs. Through government-backed hacker groups such as the Lazarus Group, the North Korean regime steals huge amounts of crypto. According to Chainalysis, in 2021 alone it stole almost US$400 million worth of crypto, which is 2.4 percent of the nation’s total annual GDP. And ETH Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to Years for North Korea Crypto Trip.
Virgil Griffith, a previous Ethereum designer, was condemned to 2.5 years in jail by a U.S. government judge in December 2021 for heading out to North Korea in 2019 to give a discussion on how digital money could be utilized to sidestep sanctions. He was accused of contriving to disregard the Global Crisis Monetary Powers Act (IEEPA) by offering types of assistance toward the North Korean government without a permit from the U.S. Depository Division's Office of Unfamiliar Resources Control (OFAC).
Griffith's safeguard contended that he was practicing his entitlement to free discourse by sharing openly accessible data about digital money, and that he gave no particular information toward the North Korean authorities he met with. Nonetheless, the indictment asserted that Griffith realize that his activities were unlawful and proceeded them at any rate.
Notwithstanding his jail sentence, Griffith was likewise requested to pay a $158,406 fine and to serve three years of directed discharge after his delivery from jail.