| In North
Korea Crypto Case Inner City Press
Challenged Sealing Now US Does Not Oppose
Release
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 29 – 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 respond: "The Court has
received an application from
Inner City Press for the
unsealing of certain
applications by the defendant
for the issuance of subpoenas.
The parties shall respond to
the application by May 22,
2020. If there is no
objection, the Court will
order the applications and any
resulting order unsealed."
Now
on May 29, the US Attorney's
Office has finally said it
does not oppose release: "Re:
United States v. Virgil
Griffith, 20 Cr. 15 (PKC) Dear
Judge Castel: Pursuant to the
Court’s May 28, 2020 order,
the Government writes to
inform the Court that it has
no objection to the public
disclosure of the defendant’s
ex parte and in camera
applications for subpoenas
pursuant to Federal Rule of
Criminal Procedure 17.
Respectfully submitted,
GEOFFREY S. BERMAN United
States Attorney for the
Southern District of New
York." Watch this site.
On May the US
Attorney's office initially
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 has refused to
release the exhibits they used
in the scam crypto OneCoin
case, while DOJ denied
expedited processing in 2019
to Inner City Press' request
for expedited processing of
its FOIA request for the
exhibits - and has not
responded since.
Now on
March 28, from Judge Castel
again to his credit, this:
"ORDER as to Virgil Griffith.
The government advises that
the defendant consents to
public disclosure of his ex
parte and in camera
application for a subpoena
pursuant to Federal Rule of
Criminal Procedure 17 (the
Application) but does not
consent to advance disclosure
of the Application to the
government. To enable the
government to intelligently
state its position on public
disclosure, defendant shall
transmit the Application to
the government by 1 p.m.
today, May 28, 2020. The
government shall state whether
it has any objection to public
disclosure by 1 p.m. on May
29, 2020. The Court will
thereafter rule on whether the
Application should be publicly
filed (Signed by Judge P.
Kevin Castel on 5/28/20)(jw)."
Watch this site.
The case is US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
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