| In North Korea Crypto Case
Inner City Press Challenged Sealing Now US
Asks To See
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 21 – Virgil Griffith,
charged with violating North
Korea sanctions in connection
with a crypto-currency
conference there, will now
seek to get the case moved for
lack of venue out of the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New
York.
This emerged at a
telephone conference in the
case on May 18. Griffith's
defense lawyer Brian E. Klein
said he is ready to file a
motion on venue as early as
this Friday May 22, based on "ex
parte, in camera"
filings he made with SDNY
Judge P. Kevin Castel.
Inner City Press, which has
covered the case from
Griffith's first appearance in
the SDNY Magistrates Court to
his Christmas holiday legal
moves to get released to home
confinement in Alabama,
immediately sought the
still-sealed documents in this
criminal case.
Judge
Castel to his credit the same
day asked each side's counsel
to response. And now on May
21, the US Attorney's office
has responded, saying it would
like to get the documents and
then decide whether they
should be released. But this
is the same US Attorney's
office which on May 21 refused
to respond to a simple request
about dismissal of their
indictment in another case, as
they have refused to release
the exhibits they used in the
scam crypto OneCoin case.
Watch this site.
The docket says that on May 7,
"Sealed document placed in
vault."
It appears that the U.S.
Attorney's office told Klein
in a May 15 phone call that
its basis for SDNY venue was
an email Griffith sent to the
North Korean diplomatic
mission in New York, which
Inner City Press has also
visited.
Klein's recitation of the May
15 call, confirmed by
Assistant US Attorney Kyle A.
Wirshba, was preceded by Klein
seeking ex parte -
that is, under seal - a
subpoena, to which a response
has been made.
Judge
Castel set the deadline for
the venue motion for May 27,
with opposition June 10 and
reply June 17. The next
conference in the case is set
for July 23. Inner City Press
has will have more than - or,
we hope, before.
The case is US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
