| US Asks Virgil Griffith Be
Arraigned In NY on Jan 30 on North Korea
Crypto Charges
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- Guardian
UK - The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 10 – 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 10 the US Attorney's
Office has written to Judge P.
Kevin Castel and proposed that
Griffith, after obtaining a
state ID in Alabama, return to
New York to be arraigned on
the indictment on January 30.
Their letter makes reference
to excluding time under the
Speedy Trial Act in order to
explore a pre-trial
disposition, which usually
means guilty plea and
settlement. But there is no
indication that is being
considered here. More on
Patreon here.
Here is the US'
letter: "Dear Judge Castel: On
January 7, 2020, a Grand Jury
in this District indicted the
defendant in the above
referenced case, charging one
count of conspiracy to violate
the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”),
Title 50, United States Code,
Section 1705. The case was
assigned to this Court.
The Court
initially set arraignment and
initial conference for January
9, 2020, but that proceeding
was adjourned at the
defendant’s request. Also on
January 9, 2020, the defendant
satisfied the conditions of
bail and traveled to Alabama
where he remains on home
detention inside his parents’
home. To allow the defendant
time to procure state
identification consistent with
Judge Broderick’s bail order,
see Dkt. 15 ¶¶ 9-10, the
parties request respectfully
an arraignment and initial
conference on January 30,
2020, at the Court’s
convenience.
In
addition, the Government
writes to request respectfully
that the Court exclude time
under the Speedy Trial Act, 18
U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A), from
today’s date, January 10,
2020, to and including January
30, 2020. Such an exclusion
will allow the parties to
discuss a possible pretrial
disposition, the Government to
begin to gather and produce
discovery, and the defendant
to review that discovery.
Counsel for the defendant
consents to this request.
Respectfully
submitted, GEOFFREY S. BERMAN
United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
By: AUSA Kyle A. Wirshba
Griffith
was not released on December
30, or for ten full days
after. And while the US
Attorney's Office initially
responded to Inner City Press'
questions by saying Griffith
had not yet been released,
then they stopped answering,
several time.
But in the
docket on January 9 was the
form, signed by Virgil
Griffith and the Deputy Clerk
of Court, and Assistant US
Attorney Kyle A. Wirshba. So
without explanation Virgil
Griffith was held over 10
days, until he was indicted.
More on Patreon here.
On January
8 Inner City Press 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.
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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