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Bitcoin Crime

Ethereum Dev Imprisoned For Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions (bleepingcomputer.com) 36

Posted by BeauHD from the can't-do-that dept.
Virgil Griffith, a US cryptocurrency expert, was sentenced on Tuesday to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to assisting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with technical info on how to evade sanctions. BleepingComputer reports: The sanctions imposed by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Executive Order 13466 forbid the export of any goods, services, or technology to the DPRK without a Department of the Treasury license issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Griffith, who worked as a special projects developer and research scientist for the Ethereum Foundation, was arrested in November 2019 by the FBI following a presentation in North Korea on how the country could use cryptocurrency and blockchain tech (i.e., smart contracts) to launder money and evade sanctions.

Despite being denied permission by the US Department of State, Griffith went to the North Korean conference knowing that doing so without a license from the OFAC would violate US sanctions against the DPRK. According to court documents, the cryptocurrency expert asked to receive his travel visa on a separate paper and not on his US passport, likely to avoid creating physical evidence of his travel to North Korea.

At the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, "Griffith and his co-conspirators also answered specific questions about blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies for the DPRK audience, including individuals whom Griffith understood worked for the North Korean government." DOJ said today. He also tried recruiting "other US citizens to travel to North Korea and provide similar services to DPRK persons and attempted to broker introductions for the DPRK to other cryptocurrency and blockchain service providers." During the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, he also talked about how North Korea could use cryptocurrency to gain financial independence from the global banking system.
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Ethereum Dev Imprisoned For Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions More

Ethereum Dev Imprisoned For Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions

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  • Dedication to the grift (Score:4, Funny)

    by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday April 14, 2022 @06:31PM (#62448102) Homepage

    Here I thought pushing NFTs to pump Ethereum was as deep as the rabbit hole went. Seems like some of these Ethereum folks would take a trip to hell and make a deal with the devil himself if they thought it'd raise the value of their holdings.

    It makes what Musk is doing with Twitter seem downright tame by comparison. At least he hasn't involved North Korea in whatever sort of pump-and-dump scheme he's got planned. Although, the night is young..

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      At least he hasn't involved North Korea in whatever sort of pump-and-dump scheme he's got planned.

      That we know of.

    • This was detected and he was arrested in 2019. Its just now he is sentenced. Crypos are like cash, can be used for anything, but this individual working closely with NK is not cool. Im glad its not normal.

  • Good luck Virg. Still have my Yak shirt from Hope06.

  • Seriously you expect a hacker to know Monero

  • Libertarian Nutter... (Score:5, Funny)

    by cas2000 ( 148703 ) on Thursday April 14, 2022 @11:58PM (#62448684)

    ...discovers that saying "Your silly laws don't apply to sovereign me" is not a magic spell that actually works.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by sabbede ( 2678435 )
      I can't see a sincere or sane Libertarian working to help the DPRK. That'd be like Greenpeace helping to build better whaling ships.

      So, not a Libertarian. Just a traitor.

  • Going to the US Department of State and asking for permission to do a thing he was going to do anyway was a great way to tell them he wanted to do the thing and ensure that he couldn't claim ignorance of the law afterwards. What was he thinking?
    • That sharing technical information with a "Democratic Republic" wouldn't piss off another democracy?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by EmoryM ( 2726097 )
        Right - that's what he could've been thinking until he asked and they said no - what was he thinking doing it anyway? That's like signing into Google and then searching for details on whether something is a crime and then doing that thing.
    • "Hey, treason sounds profitable!"

      That's my guess. And given that we are still at war with the DPRK, entirely accurate.

  • Jailed for what exactly ? TFA says answering questions on ethereum blockchain to people who were from DPRK officials And giving some presentations. 100% of the info is available in websites n white papers and youtube. Or is there some secret high tech clandestine component of ethereum only DOD knows ? Are jails /prison companies in the US now coming up with IPOs or what ? Otherwise this seem beyond stupid

  • The land of the free and the home of the brave!

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