Bitcoin News and Finance
Federal Court Rejects Motion Filed by Crypto Developer Virgil Griffith to Dismiss Charges on Aiding North Korea Skip to main content

Federal Court Rejects Motion Filed by Crypto Developer Virgil Griffith to Dismiss Charges on Aiding North Korea

Federal Court Rejects Motion Filed by Crypto Developer Virgil Griffith to Dismiss Charges on Aiding North Korea

A U.S. federal judge has rejected a motion filed by a former Ethereum Foundation developer over allegations of assisting North Korea to bypass sanctions. Prosecutors claim, Virgil Griffith, aided the regime by providing critical information on cryptocurrencies.

Prosecutors Say Griffith’s Speech Was About the Use of Cryptos to Circumvent Sanctions

Per Law360, a jury is now set to determine if Griffith violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by giving a speech at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in 2019.

Kevin Castel, a U.S. District Judge, denied Griffith’s motion because the “short and vague” four-page indictment lacked specific details of his alleged criminal actions. He further commented on the matter:

Examining the indictment in light of the parties’ arguments, the court concludes that it provides adequate notice of the charges against Griffith sufficient to enable him to prepare for trial and, if it becomes necessary, plead double jeopardy as a defense. Further, upon review of the law governing the offense conduct, the indictment states a federal crime and violates no constitutional prohibition.

Prosecutors accused the former Ethereum Foundation developer of giving a speech in Pyongyang about the use of cryptocurrencies to get around U.S. economic sanctions.

Griffith was arrested on Thanksgiving Day in 2019. However, on December 30, 2019, he was granted bail by U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick.

Many crypto supporters stood up for Griffith’s cause when he was arrested, and influencers like John McAfee called the U.S. government “corrupt at the core.”

Griffith didn’t receive permission from the U.S. Department of Justice to travel to South Korea for the conference. However, per court documents, he got the approval of the North Korean United Nations (UN) Mission in Manhattan and was granted a visa.

Griffith Claims His Speech Was Based on Publicly-Available Information About Blockchain

The Ethereum proponent alleges he gave very basic information about blockchain to about 100 North Koreans who attended his speech. Also, he adds that everything said in his participation is publicly available on the internet. However, prosecutors believe North Korea could use his speech’s content to launder money and bypass sanctions potentially.

Also, the court revealed a message sent by Griffith to colleagues in 2018 before his speech, which reads as follow:

We’d love to make an Ethereum trip to the DPRK and set up an Ethereum node … It’ll help them circumvent the current sanctions on them.

But the former blockchain developer claimed in his rejected motion that such speech was protected by the First Amendment freedom of speech.

As of press time, the court date for Griffith’s case is still set for September 2021.

What do you think about this federal judge’s decision? Let us know in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory