| Virgil Griffith Now Indicted
For NK Crypto Assigned To SDNY Judge Castel
SDNY Stonewall
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- Guardian
UK - The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 8 – 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 on
January 8 Inner City Press has
learned that Griffith has 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.
This
information was NOT obtained
from the US Attorney's Office
which Inner City Press has
repeatedly asked in writing to
disclose whether they in fact
released Griffith on the bail
granted by Judge Broderick and
reported exclusively by Inner
City Press. More on Patreon here.
But 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.
On January
2, Inner City Press is
informed by the US Attorney's
press office that Griffith has
still not been released: "He
has not satisfied his bail
conditions yet. Still
awaiting the approval of his
co-signers and the posting of
properties as collateral."
More on Patreon here.
This as
belatedly Judge Broderick's
order has gone online, signed
only on January 2, including
that " for the reasons stated
on the record on December 30,
the Defendant’s appeal is
GRANTED. I set forth below the
entirety of Defendant’s bail
conditions: 1. A $1 million
personal recognizance bond,
secured by (1) the residence
of the Defendant’s parents,
Dr. Robert Griffith and Dr.
Susan Griffith, located at [ ]
Northport, AL 35473; and (2)
the residence of Defendant’s
sister, Joy Lewis, located at
[ ] Columbia, MD 21046. Dr.
Robert Griffith, Dr. Susan
Griffith, and Joy Lewis are to
assist the Government in
obtaining documents it deems
necessary to make these
properties security for the
bond. The bond shall not be
considered secured until such
time as the property has been
assessed by the Government and
has been made security for the
bond. Defendant shall not be
released until the conditions
set forth in the paragraph are
met; 2. Strict Pretrial
Supervision; 3. Home detention
with electronic and GPS
monitoring at Defendants’
parents’ residence, located at
[ ] Northport, AL 35473 (“the
Residence”); 4. Home
assessment of the Residence.
Defendant shall not be
released until the conditions
set forth in the paragraph are
met; 5. Defense counsel and
the Government are to meet and
confer about securing the
cryptocurrency hard drives
located at the Defendant’s
apartment in Singapore,
subject to the laws of
Singapore. Defendant is to
ensure that all individuals
who have access to his
apartment in Singapore are
aware that these drives are
not to be accessed, touched,
or tampered with in any way
until they are secured based
upon the agreement between
defense counsel and the
Government. 6. Defendant is to
participate in mental health
treatment and evaluation as
directed by Pretrial Services;
7. Defendant is to participate
in drug treatment and testing
as directed by Pretrial
Services; 8. Defendant’s
travel is restricted to the
Northern District of Alabama,
the Southern District of New
York (“SDNY”), and the Eastern
District of New York (“EDNY”
and together with SDNY, the
“New York Districts”).
Further, Defendant shall only
be permitted to travel to the
New York Districts to (a)
appear at the Thurgood
Marshall United States
Courthouse at 40 Centre
Street, New York, New York and
the Daniel Patrick Moynihan
United States Courthouse at
500 Pearl Street, New York,
New York for court appearances
or as directed by his Pretrial
Services Officer; or (b) meet
with his counsel, Brian Klein,
of Baker Marquart LLP and/or
Sean Buckley of Kobre &
Kim, and/or any other
representatives of the
aforementioned firms..
Defendant shall provide notice
to and obtain approval from
Pretrial Services for all such
travel. To the extent
Government deems it necessary,
in connection with all visits
to and from the New York
Districts, Defendant shall be
accompanied to the airport by
an agent of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation or other
investigative agency
designated by the Government,
who shall ensure that he
boards his flight; 9. Within
the Northern District of
Alabama, Defendant shall be
permitted to leave the
Residence for all purposes
ordinarily permitted for a
person in home detention, as
well as to obtain state- or
municipality-issued
identification documents.
Defendant shall provide notice
to and obtain approval from
Pretrial Services for all such
departures from the Residence;
10. Defendant is to surrender
all of his travel documents to
Pretrial Services, including
his Passport ID Card. Upon
release, and in accordance
with Condition No. 9,
Defendant is to commence
efforts to obtain a state- or
municipality-issued
identification card that will
enable him to travel by air.
Until Defendant obtains an
alternate form of
identification, Pretrial
Services will facilitate his
travel to the New York
Districts for the purposes
authorized in Condition No. 8
by providing Defendant with
his Passport ID Card no more
Case 1:19-mj-10987-UA Document
8 Filed 01/02/20 Page 4 of 6 5
than one day prior to his
flight, which he will
surrender to Pretrial Services
upon his initial arrival in
the SDNY, and retrieve his
Passport ID Card from Pretrial
Services for his trip back to
Alabama. Defendant shall
within a day of returning to
the Northern District of
Alabama return his Passport ID
Card to Pretrial Services in
the Northern District of
Alabama. 11. Defendant is not
to relocate from the Residence
without prior approval of
Pretrial Services; 12.
Defendant shall not possess or
use any smartphone or any
cellular telephone with
internet access capability;
13. Defendant will be allowed
to have a computer in the
Residence, which will be
loaded with a monitoring
software. Defendant is not to
use any computer or other
internet-capable device that
does not contain such
software; 14. Defendant’s
internet activity will be
limited to communicating with
his counsel by e-mail.
Defendant is not to access the
internet for any other
purposes, and is specifically
prohibited from accessing any
of his cryptocurrency accounts
and from accessing the
darkweb; 15. Defendant is not
to communicate with or contact
any of the witnesses and
victims set forth in a list to
be provided by the
Government."
Still
on January 2 at
noon,
the US
Attorney's
filings citing
SpankChain and
the Dark Web
were not
online.
This is
UNacceptable.
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.
We've asked the Griffiths and
their lawyer to provide any
updates, and have been in
questions to the US Attorney's
Office. Watch this site.
And
Patreon here.
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, as it covered
the OneCoin trial. Here
is its live-tweet threat of
December 26, more on Patreon here...
***
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