| With
Griffith Jailed Before NoKo Trial Now
Sealed Motion About Accounts and Balances
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Pod
Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 3 – Virgil Griffith,
charged with violating North
Korea sanctions in connection
with a crypto-currency
conference there, faced a bail
review proceeding - in person
- on July 20. He lost and was
remanded. Inner City Press was
there, and live tweeted, here
and below (podcast here)
On September 2 a
sealed letter and proposed
order, with account numbers
and and monetary balances, was
filed - but not available to
the press or public. On
September 3 Judge Castel
ruled: "ORDER as to Virgil
Griffith: The application to
seal the letter of September
2, 2021, together with the
proposed order, is granted in
part and denied in part. The
letter and proposed order are
sealed but redacted versions
of the letter and proposed
order shall be filed forthwith
by defendant on the public
docket, redacting only unique
identifiers and/or account
numbers, date of birth and the
believed balance in the
account. SO ORDERED. (Signed
by Judge P. Kevin Castel on
9/3/2021)." Watch this site.
Late on August 27
Griffith's lawyers filed his
motions to limine, seeking to
exclude evidence at trial
including about his "purported
personal wealth and
cryptocurrency holdings..
involvement with Tor / 'Dark
Web'... DPRK's nuclear program
and any implication that Mr.
Griffith was involved in said
program." Watch this site.
On August 24 the
US Attorney's Office
acknowledged that at least
four FBI agents not on the
case accessed the search
warrant returns from
Griffith's accounts:
"(1) On May 4,
2020, a now-retired FBI agent
conducted a search on the
Platform and then, based
on the returns from that
search, viewed at least some
portion of the Search
Warrant Returns.
(2) On April 6,
2021, and April 19, 2021, an
FBI analyst ran three searches
on the Platform and viewed at
least some portion of the
Search Warrant Returns.
(3) On May 27,
2021, an FBI analyst conducted
a search on the Platform and,
as a result of that
search, viewed at least some
portion of the Search Warrant
Returns.
(4) As described
above, on August 11, 2021, an
FBI analyst conducted a search
in the Platform and
viewed at least some portion
of the Search Warrant Returns.
She shared those results with,
among others, an FBI agent
also not on the prosecution
team, who emailed them
to the FBI case agent." Full
letter on Inner City Press'
DocumentCloud here.
On August 13, the
US Attorney's Office filed its
motions in limine, including
that Griffith "forwarded
CC-4's email to the co-founder
of the Ethereum Foundation and
Griffith's ultimate boss
('Individual-1') and another
Ethereum Foundation leader."
The US wants to use these
individuals, and
communications, against
Griffith at trial. Watch this
site.
From July 20:
Judge Castel has entered: All
rise. Two prosecutors, 1
pre-trial services officer.
Griffith and 2 lawyers.
AUSA: The
defendant tried to access his
crypto accounts, using a 3d
party, evading computer
monitoring condition.
AUSA: His
mother impersonated him. The
defense counsel's involvement
does not mitigate the risk of
flight. "He's a millionaire
with ties abroad."
Judge
Castel: How much time might he
face? AUSA: 20 years. Judge
Castel: Were the funds frozen?
AUSA: Coinbase said they would
not release them... He was
thrown out of hotel in LA,
after bragging about North
Korea and crypto, he told
staff, Read about me.
AUSA: The
defendant has violated his
bail conditions. Judge Castel:
Mr Klein?
Ms Axel: It's a
misunderstanding. He's only
banned from cold wallets. His
father is here. [True: here in
courtroom gallery with Inmer
City Press]
Judge
Castel hands out law of 2d
Circuit on advice of counsel
as a defense. [Note:
There are no US Marshals in
the courtroom now.]
Ms Axel seems to
acknowledge that Mrs Griffith
made it appear to Coinbase
that she was her son. Judge
Castel: Did he email Coinbase?
Seems so. Judge Castel
reads Judge Broderick's Jan 2,
2020 bond order. Axel: You
modified it. Judge Castel: So
it's my fault...
Axel cites Docket
92, allowing emails with non
attorneys. Judge Castel: The
no-crypto provision was not
modified. You have a problem
here, Ms. Axel.
Judge Castel: His
mother's Internet use was on
hid behalf, and in his name.
Axel: His father put Virgil's
name in his phone to get in
today. Judge Castel: Is
Ethereum paying for any of his
defense? Klein: Not in public.
[Sidebar with white noise]
Klein comes into
gallery and whispers with
Virgil's father, returns to
sidebar with Judge Castel and
prosecutors.
Axel: We
spoke with pre-trial services
officer Carl in Alabama...
Virgil's parents are
upstanding members of the
Tuscaloosa community. Judge
Castel: Pre-Trial works for
the Court. Inner City Press
@innercitypress · 54m Two US
Marshals have come into the
courtroom. One goes forward
and sits directly behind
Griffith. Axel is still
talking.
Judge Castel:
Last word to the government.
AUSA: They knew accessing
crypto currency accounts was
forbidden. These are just post
hoc justifications.
AUSA: He's told
No, then tries to circumvent.
He's an expert in the Dark
Web, and searching it. On Aug
7, 2019 he said, The Americans
let you get away with it once.
Judge Castel: I
don't have to find a
violation. This is a bail
review. Axel: Dissidents use
the Dark Web. He has PhD, he
could do this. Doctor Evil
does this with a burner from
Starbucks, not through his
mother.
Judge Castel:
He's charged in a single IEEPA
count. Trial is near. The
circumstances have changed.
Ether has gone up by ten
times. It changes the
calculus. Bond Paragraph 14
was violated.
Judge
Castel: My concern is risk of
flight. The defendant is
remanded.
He is awaiting
trial in September 2021 in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York.
On July 9 the US
Attorney's Office wrote to
SDNY Judge P. Kevin Castel
saying Griffith attempted to
access one of his frozen
cryptocurrency accounts
containing assets of nearly $1
million. They went a hearing,
and they want him remanded
(jailed). Full letter on
Patreon here.
On July 13, this:
"MEMO ENDORSEMENT as to Virgil
Griffith on re: [119] LETTER
MOTION filed by USA addressed
to Judge P. Kevin Castel from
AUSAs Kimberly Ravener and
Kyle Wirshba dated July 9,
2021 re: Violation of Bail
Conditions. ENDORSEMENT: A
bail review proceeding will be
held on July 20, 2021 at 2:00
p.m. in Courtroom 11D. The
defendant shall appear in
person."
On July 16,
Griffith's lawyers argued
that his parents accessed
Coinbase, given the run up in
ETH price, to pay for counsel:
"Given the impending trial
date, Mr. Griffith may need to
sell certain assets to fund
his legal defense. Mr.
Griffith consults closely with
his family on financial
matters and did so even
prior to his arrest. In
connection with their strategy
to assess and access necessary
resources to fund his
defense, and after consulting
counsel, his mother made an
online request to access a
U.S.- based and regulated
cryptocurrency exchange,
Coinbase... As the Court
knows, Mr. Griffith was an
employee of the Ethereum
Foundation and was paid
in Ether (ETH), a
digital asset used on the
Ethereum blockchain. At
the time Mr. Griffith
was arrested in November
2019, he held some ETH and
some ETC (a related
cryptocurrency) in a Coinbase
account worth less than
$100,000. Since then, one ETH
has risen from about $150 to
about $1,900. The government
states that the account assets
are currently worth almost
$1 million. Neither Mr.
Griffith nor any family member
acting on his behalf has had
access to that account since
his arrest. With the
September trial date quickly
approaching, and given ETH’s
current value, Mr.
Griffith has wished to
know the exact contents of his
Coinbase account and the value
of his assets, so he
could consider transferring or
selling all of part of his
cryptocurrency held there to
pay trialrelated expenses. As
is their family culture, Mr.
Griffith’s father, Dr. Robert
Griffith, has been
involved and consulted in
matters regarding assets and
plans to pay defense counsel."
Full letter on Patreon
here.
Griffith's
lawyer have said the
prosecutors tried to mislead
Judge Castel by omitting from
their quote of email to
Coinbase the line that the
company could contact
Griffith's lawyer; they say
this shows no risk of flight.
On February
11, Judge Castel held a
proceeding about who knew what
before and at the conference
Griffith spoke at. A
stipulation or agreement has
been proposed, essentially
that some people know, but the
DPRK / Kim government as such
did not. Inner City Press live
tweeted the first proceeding,
here.
And on
February 23 the second
proceeding, in two parts, here.
The case is US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
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