Two Europeans Charged With Conspiracy To Help Virgil Griffith

Two Europeans charged with conspiracy to help Virgil Griffith in his means to help North Koreans evade sanctions also got charged recently to five years in prison so let’s read more in today’s latest cryptocurrency news.

Griffith as a former Ethereum developer was sentenced to five years in prison for helping North Korea evade sanctions with crypto so federal prosecutors announced charges against two Europeans that conspired with Virgil Griffith to help North Koreans evade crypto sanctions. The British citizens Christopher Emms and Spaniard Alejandro Cao de Benos provided information about crypto to attendees of the 2019 Pyongyang Blockchain and crypto conference according to the press release from the US Attorney’s office of the Southern District of New york.

The charges follow ETH Developer Griffith’s sentencing to five years in prison earlier this month and came as the US governemnt paid more attention to North Korea’s alleged hacks of crypto projects across the world. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said:

“The United States will not allow the North Korean regime to use cryptocurrency to evade global sanctions designed to thwart its goals of nuclear proliferation and regional destabilization.”

As recently reported, Former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith got sentenced to 63 months in prison and was charged with conspiracy to help North Koreans evade US Sanctions via crypto. Griffith was arrested after a trip to North Korea in 2019 but today he got sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of $100,000. Griffith traveled to Pyongyang to talk about ETH and other cryptocurrencies during a blockchain conference. He was arrested upon his arrival and charged with conspiracy to violate The International Emergency Economic Powers At but also accused of helping North Koreans learn how to use crypto and avoid sanctions.

The developer traveled to North Korea without permission from the US government while the US Attorney Geoffrey S Berman alleged that Griffith provided highly technical information to North Korea and this information could likely be used to help the country launder money and evade sanctions. Griffith pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy in 2021i n a deal with the federal prosecutors. At over five years, his sentence was at the low end of the guidelines.