SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 18 – Virgil Griffith,
charged with violating North
Korea sanctions in connection
with a crypto-currency
conference there and facing a
September 27 trial, pleaded
guilty in the morning and was
remanded to jail.
His
sentencing was set for January
18, 2022 with a guideline of
63 to 78 months. He has agreed
to forfeiture and, ironically,
docketed after the guilty plea
is an order allowing his
lawyers to take their fees out
of his Coinbase accounts,
582b97ccd7afbl018834f232 and
52fbe72ld358f6dda000010a.
Photo here.
Podcast here.
On the day of or
after sentencing was set, it
was delayed to April 12, 2022.
Late on March 4,
Griffith's lawyer put in his
sentencing submission, with
redactions. He is asked for 24
months, while Probation
recommends 63 months. Virgil
writes, "I love my country and
did not set up to do anything
to harm it." Vitalik Buterin
describes him reaching out,
and hope the Judge Castel will
let him do more.
On March 18 the
US sentencing memo went in,
asking fro 63 to 78 months and
a fine of $1 million "to deter
the defendant and others from
similar conduct in the
future."
Back on July 20
he faced a bail review
proceeding - in person. He
lost and was remanded, perhaps
having an impact on the
September 27 guilty plea.
Inner City Press was there,
and live tweeted, here
and below (podcast here)
On
September 14, in the run up to
the trial starting on
September 27, there was a
final pre-trial conference
replete with rulings. Inner
City Press live tweeted it here.
On
September 22, Judge Castel
denied Griffith's sealed
motion to depose the Ethereum
Foundation's general counsel
Tju Liang Chua, or to allow
him to testify by video. Order
on Patreon here.
On other grounds - late
produced discovery -
Griffith's lawyers asked
for a week continuance in the
trial.
On September 23,
initially without Griffith
present, Judge Castel held a
hearing then denied the
request for delay. Inner City
Press live tweeted it here.
On September 26,
the Sunday before the trial
starts on Monday, the US
Attorney's Office docketed
their opposition to the
testimony of Ethereum's
General Counsel, and e-mails
of Virgil Griffith, filing on
DocumentCloud here.
Song here
The motion included: "The
defendant served as one of the
highest-ranking individuals in
the Ethereum Foundation, as
“Head of Special Projects,”
and worked to pursue the DPRK
node in coordination with the
organization’s founder and its
Executive Director.... on
August 7, 2018, the defendant
forwarded a proposal from CC-4
to place an Ethereum node
inside the DPRK to the founder
of the Ethereum Foundation,
and another Foundation
employee. See GX 3013
(attached hereto as Exhibit
5). The next day, on August 8,
2018, Griffith told another
Ethereum colleague, “Let me
ask Tju Liang [that is, the
proposed Deponent] as well as
a DPRK specialist whether if
it’s possible to do this
without violating sanctions.
Will update you both.” When
the colleague emphasized, “It
can’t be a sanction workaround
loophole thing either,”
Griffith responded, “I’ll see
what the lawyer says.” This
record of Griffith’s close
coordination with the leaders
of the Ethereum Foundation to
pursue the node, along with
his decision to seek advice
from Ethereum’s own in-house
General Counsel, make clear
that Griffith was not acting
solely in his personal
capacity when he contacted the
proposed Deponent."
On Saturday,
Griffith's lawyer belatedly
docketed their motion, on
Patreon here.
From September
23: Assistant US Attorney:
There is no basis for an
adjournment of the trial. They
are not requesting to exclude,
it seems. Judge Castel:
The parties agreed the US
would make trial exhibit
available on a rolling basis
up to Sept 17? AUSA: We did
not agree to end then
It's 3:15
pm and... "It's the MCC, I
have Virgil here."
Virgil: Hello.
Judge Castel: Welcome.
Inner City Press
will cover the sentencing.
The case is US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
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