| In NoKo
Crypto Case Inner City Press Won Unsealing
US Quotes Griffith on Money Laundering
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 23 – 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, see below.
On July 20,
Klein requested for Griffith
restored access to the
Internet, telling Judge Castel
in letter here
on Patreon that while on leave
from Ethereum another unnamed
company has offered to make
him a consultant, but that
Klein would wants it name
sealed : "While he has been
placed on leave by his former
employer during the pendency
of these charges, he has been
offered one consulting
contract, which can be
submitted to the Court under
seal."
Now on July
23, just before a conference
in the case, the US Attorney
office has opposed, offering
these quotes from the North
Korea conference: "Hello
everyone, I know it’s late in
the day so I’ll try to make
this fun. So the most
important feature of
blockchain is that they are
open. And the DPRK can’t be
kept out no matter what the US
or the UN says. . . .
One of the more interesting
things is that blockchain
allow greater self-reliance in
both banking and contracts. So
you can have contracts without
an authority. . . . So you
heard about with blockchain
the USA can’t stop your
payments. That’s like, that is
step 1, and step 2 is the UN
can’t stop agreements. So if
the DPRK makes agreements with
someone, or if an individual
does, it’s um, you can um you
don’t have to go to a court."
They quote Griffith on text
message: "on October 2, 2019,
the defendant, in a text
exchange with family members,
noted that he might be fired
from his cryptocurrency
company and stated that, if he
was, he might instead “setup a
money laundering company in
North Korea.” We'll have
more on this.
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."
On May 29,
Judge Castel ruled: "Defendant
is directed to file forthwith
on ECF his ex parte and in
camera applications for
subpoenas pursuant to Federal
Rule of Criminal Procedure 17.
(Signed by Judge P. Kevin
Castel on 5/29/2020) (ap)."
And now
they have been filed: a March
17 letter and affirmation, and
the subpoena itself, for "A
list of any and all IP
addresses associated with the
email address
dprk.un@verizon.net, and any
logs or similar records of
access to the email address
dprk.un@verizon.net, for the
period from November 1, 2018
to October 30, 2019."
Inner City
Press has uploaded the
application, affirmation and
subpoena on Patreon here.
An
aside: the application of
diplomatic immunity and/or the
Vienna convention to this
subpoena, and Verizon's
response to it, remain
UNclear.
On June 1,
Griffith's lawyer filed a
motion to dismiss for lack of
venue, stating that Griffith's
email to the North Korea
Mission in New York, responded
to, might not have been
"received" in New York. Inner
City Press is tweeting the
photo here.
Watch this site.
On
May 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).
***
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
|
,
