DeFi
Jailed for North Korea visit, Ethereum researcher Virgil Griffith set to be released – DL News
- Ethereum researcher Virgil Griffith was sentenced in 2022 to 63 months in prison.
- US prosecutors had accused him of helping North Korea use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions.
- “It won’t be long…for Virgil to finally come home,” his lawyer said.
Former Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith will soon return home after serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for helping North Korea evade U.S. sanctions.
Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in prison. But New York federal court Judge P. Kevin Castel agreed Wednesday to release Griffith seven months early.
Griffith was eligible for a reduced sentence in part because he had “no prior criminal history at the time of sentencing,” the judge noted in his decision.
Alexander Urbelis, Griffith’s lawyer, said calculating the exact date of his release was “complicated and opaque.”
“We’re still doing the calculations,” Urbelis said. said on X. “But with the order going into effect on August 2, it shouldn’t be long before Virgil finally comes home.”
North Korea has become the scourge of the crypto industry. In 2023, the Lazarus affiliated cybercrime group is estimated having stolen at least $3.4 billion in cryptocurrencies since its inception in 2007.
Griffith was arrested in 2019 after a trip to North Korea.
His keynote speech at the Pyongyang Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies contained information on how to circumvent sanctions, prosecutors said.
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But Griffith’s lawyers and his legal team argued that the presentation merely summarized widely available information that could be easily found online.
One of Griffith’s lawyers said the trip was “the culmination of Virgil’s unique and unfortunate curiosity and obsession with North Korea,” according to the crypto site. CoinDesk reported.
Griffith, 41, was sentenced to prison in 2022 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from exporting goods, services or technology to North Korea without a license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
He is currently serving his sentence in a federal prison in Michigan,
Brian Klein, who is another of Griffith’s attorneys and is now defending software developer Roman Storm against accusations he helped Lazarus launder stolen cryptocurrencies, told the Washington Post that Griffith was “sincerely sorry.”
Griffiths was not the only one to face backlash after attending the Pyongyang conference.
Alejandro Cao de Benos, a Spanish aristocrat and founder of the Korean Friendship Association advocacy group, was charged Cao de Benos was arrested in 2022 by U.S. authorities for allegedly recruiting Griffith. Last year, Cao de Benos was arrested by Spanish authorities, who accused him of helping North Korea circumvent international sanctions through cryptocurrency.
Briton Christopher Emms was also charged last year, alongside Cao de Benos, with plotting to help North Korea gain access to cryptocurrencies. He had attended the same conference as Griffith.
Aleks Gilbert is DL News“New York-based DeFi correspondent. Got a tip? You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.