| Now Virgil Griffith Crypto Case
Pushed to May in SNDY So Can Appear by Phone
Amid Covid
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread
BBC
- Decrypt
- Guardian
UK - The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 20 – Virgil Griffith who
was arrested
on Thanksgiving on federal
charges of illegally traveling
to North Korea and provide
crypto currency advice and was
denied bail on December 26 was
on appeal on December 30
ordered released on bail.
Inner City Press' live-tweeted
thread here
and new Patreon here.
Now even
with the case stalled like so
many amid the Coronavirus
pandemic, this on April 20: "Re: United States
v. Virgil Griffith 20 Cr. 15
(PKC) Dear Judge Castel:
Counsel for defendant Virgil
Griffith write in response to
the Court’s order earlier
today. (Dkt. No. 30.) Per the
order, we have consulted with
Mr. Griffith on whether he
wishes to waive his physical
appearance and participate
telephonically in the next
status conference, and he
does. Mr. Griffith appreciates
the Court permitting him to
participate by telephone. With
this confirmation, we
understand that the conference
is adjourned from April 23,
2020 to May 18, 2020." Inner
City Press will continue to
cover this case.
Back on
January 10 the US Attorney's
Office wrote to Judge P. Kevin
Castel and proposed that
Griffith, after obtaining a
state ID in Alabama, return to
New York be arraigned on the
indictment on January 30. More
on Patreon here.
Inner City
Press was there on January 30,
as were Griffith and his now
three lawyers.
When asked
how he pled, Griffith said,
"Innocent."
The US Attorney's
Office said it had given some
discovery on January 24, with
more in two weeks. But when
asked for a list of other
attendees of the North Korea
conference, the reply is that
it is not required. Griffith's
team may seek Rule 15
testimony overseas, and
politely declined Inner City
Press' question afterward
about the other person
referenced in the charging
documents. Thread here,
more on Patreon here.
On January
8 Inner City Press learned
that Griffith had been
formally indicted for
"conspiracy to violate the
International Emergency
Economic Powers Act,"
here. His case has been
assigned to SDNY Judge P.
Kevin Castel, as 20-cr-15: the
fifteenth criminal case of the
year in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York.
Inner City
Press on January 6 exclusively
attended and
covered another
crypto-currency case in the
chambers of Judge Castel, SEC
v. Telegram (about its
proposed blockchain
Grams). We'll have more
on this. More on Patreon here.
The bail
appeal hearing began just
after 11 am before Judge
Broderick. Griffith's main
lawyer Brian E. Klein of Baker
Marquart LLP was present at
the defense table. In the
gallery along with Inner City
Press was Virgil Griffith's
father, who said he had been
reading Inner City Press'
tweets.
Despite
the US Attorney's Office,
which sent ever more senior
Assistants into the courtroom
as the proceeding went on,
hammering away about the Dark
Web and crypto currency
wallets in Virgil Griffith's
apartment in Singapore, as
well as his alleged mulling of
buying a St. Kitts passport,
Judge Broderick ordered him
released.
The
conditions include a $1
million bond secured by the
homes of his father and
sister. He will be allowed to
e-mail with his lawyers, and
even to use his passport card
for travel, pending getting an
Alabama state ID.
At the
proceeding's conclusion Inner
City Press asked the Assistant
US Attorney if his Office
could appeal Judge Broderick's
decision and, after a pause as
long as it took for the
elevator doors to close, he
said yes, it could be
appealed.
As Inner
City Press has complained, the
case until now has remained
sealed. That should be ending
- watch this site. Here's from
Inner City Press' exclusive
(live) reporting thread,
and
Patreon here.
After bond signed
and house revisited, Virgil
Griffith will be released. His
father tells Inner City Press
he's been reading its tweets.
The US Attorney's
Office cited his text messages
to his parents about
renouncing his U.S.
citizenship and setting up a
money laundering business in
North Korea.
In the
Magistrates Court of the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
his parents were present,
along with Inner City Press as
the only media. They were
there since the morning, and
watched the other cases Inner
City Press reported on.
Assistant
US Attorney Kimberly Ravener
told SDNY Magistrate Judge
Barbara Moses that Griffith
had misled Pre-Trial Services
about his residence in Puerto
Rico; his laywer Mr. Buckley
first said Griffith owned it,
then that he rented.
Judge
Moses asked why he has a
residence in Puerto Rico.
Buckley said Puerto Rico is a
developing area in the crypto
space.
Griffith's
request to be released was
first stayed by SDNY District
Judge Denise Cote, operating a
"Part I" judge at the time.
Buckley at the conclusion near
5 pm of the bail denial
hearing on December 26 said he
and a colleague flying in
might seek to appeal. Inner
City Press will continue to
cover this case. Here
is its live-tweet threat of
December 26, more on Patreon here... The case is US
v. Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
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