Former Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) developer Virgil Griffith was sentenced to over five years in prison and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for teaching how to use cryptocurrencies in North Korea.
What Happened: Griffith pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate international sanctions after he gave a talk at a cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in 2019 and received a 63-month sentence, according to a Wednesday Coindesk report. Griffith was arrested in November 2019 and pleaded guilty in September 2021.
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The Sentence: Griffith faced a maximum sentence of 20 years, but was able to strike a plea deal with United States prosecutors to limit the sentence to a range of 63 to 78 months — approximately five to 6 1/2 years. Since he already spent about two years in custody, with Griffith out on bail for 14 months of that term, the court will count the remaining 10 months as time already served.
Before Griffith was sentenced, his attorney Brian Klein argued alongside him that he was subjected to “several really trying and inhumane conditions” at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Those conditions included extended solitary quarantines due to COVID-19 outbreaks, no family visits, limited access to blankets and warm clothing and even being forced to use the sink as a toilet, the attorney reportedly said.
He was also limited to two or less meals a day, usually peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, due to gangs controlling the kitchens and commissary.
Due to those conditions, Klein said that those 10 months spent in prison should be counted as double and asked the judge to move Griffith to a low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, where he would be closer to extended family.
Griffith Obsessed With North Korea? The attorney also cited a recent psychological assessment that his client is suffering from narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. He claimed that the developer was obsessed with North Korea and disregarded the warnings of his family, friends, employer and the government against participating in the event due to those afflictions.
