On April 12, 2022, Virgil Griffith, an ex- Ethereum developer pled guilty to one count of conspiring to violate UN sanctions in 2019 after giving a discussion at a crypto conference in Pyongyang. He is sentenced to more than 5 years in prison on a conspiracy charge for the violation of international sanctions imposed by the US government on the government of North Korea under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He must also serve a 63-month prison sentence and pay a $100,000 fine to the US government.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York handed down a sentence on April 13 that was on the lower end of the prosecution’s prescribed sentencing guidelines and in keeping with the Department of Probation’s recommendation.
Plead for statement leniency
Virgil Griffith was detained in the United States in November 2019 after returning from his talk on Ethereum in Pyongyong, North Korea. He spent about 2 years in jail, 14 months of which were spent on bond, so the remaining time will be added to his sentence as time served. Griffith’s sentence was lowered from a maximum of 20 years to roughly 6 years in jail as a result of his plea.
According to sources, the defence also requested leniency for the inmate’s “inhumane” living circumstances, which included denying him family visits and forcing him to use his sink as a toilet.
Griffith had been repeatedly cautioned not to attend the conference to prevent any difficulties. According to John Demers, an assistant US attorney general for national security. Griffith chose to disregard the warning.
Crypto community and other crypto enthusiasts come to Griffith support
Despite pleading guilty to conspiracy, the crypto community and well-known players such as Vitalik Buterin defended Griffith, claiming that everything he said at the conference was public knowledge and that he had no personal gain from his trip, hence he should not have been jailed for conspiracy.
Griffith claimed he had “learned his lesson” and was humiliated to be in prison for going to North Korea against his family’s, friends’, and the US government’s advice.
I refuse to take the convenient path of throwing Virgil under the bus, because I firmly believe that that would be wrong. I'm signing. Reasoning below.https://t.co/E44p5caeJO
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 1, 2019
The prosecution, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned about this. According to Judge Castel, Griffith had no positive intentions and instead wanted to “teach individuals on how to escape penalties.”
In addition to the imprisonment and punishment levied on the former Ethereum developer, this conviction might serve as a warning to anybody seeking to bypass US sanctions by using cryptocurrencies.
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