A former Ethereum developer has recently pleaded guilty to aiding North Korea in evading US sanctions through providing technical advice on cryptocurrency. Virgil Griffith, a Singapore resident and US citizen, admitted to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which could result in a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) revealed that Griffith had been involved in developing and financing cryptocurrency infrastructure in North Korea since 2018, with the knowledge that digital currency mining could help the country evade sanctions and fund its nuclear weapons program. In April of the following year, Griffith allegedly delivered a presentation in Pyongyang, alongside unidentified co-conspirators, explaining how cryptocurrency could be used to bypass sanctions and how smart contracts could be utilized in negotiations regarding weapons with the US, despite being denied permission by the State Department to travel to North Korea.
It was also reported that Griffith attempted to recruit other US citizens to participate in his illicit scheme, without seeking a license from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for exporting goods, services, or technology to North Korea.
Initially pleading not guilty in January 2020, Griffith was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in November 2019. In August of this year, it was revealed that due to a bug in the Palantir analytics software, unauthorized FBI personnel were able to view data extracted from Griffith’s social media accounts. However, this incident did not impact the investigation or the legal proceedings against Griffith.
US attorney Audrey Strauss stated, “As he admitted in court today, Virgil Griffith agreed to help one of our nation’s most dangerous foreign adversaries, North Korea. Griffith worked with others to provide cryptocurrency services to North Korea and assist North Korea in evading sanctions, and traveled to North Korea to do so. In the process, Griffith jeopardized the national security of the United States by undermining the sanctions that both Congress and the President have enacted to place maximum pressure on the threat posed by North Korea’s treacherous regime.”