An ethereum developer who violated U.S. sanctions when he went to North Korea to give a blockchain technology presentation has received 63 months in prison.
Virgil Griffith received the sentencing on April 12 from U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who said the cryptocurrency expert was aware that going to North Korea was illegal.
Griffith, 39, went to the country in 2019 despite the knowledge that traveling to the country was not legal in an attempt to become “a crypto hero to be admired and praised for his standing up to government sanctions,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
He had pled guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in September after being arrested November 2019 in Los Angeles.
The law prohibits U.S. citizens from exporting goods, services or technology to sanctioned countries such as North Korea.
During his sentencing, Griffith said he understood that traveling to North Korea was wrong, and that being arrested resulted in losing his research job at the Ethereum Foundation and caused embarrassment to his family members.
“I have learned my lesson,” he said.
Federal prosecutors allege that Griffith put U.S. diplomacy at risk and sought to weaken economic sanctions designed to impact a hostile foreign power.
Griffith’s lawyers had sought a lighter sentence of two years in prison because he had already served time under harsh conditions at a Brooklyn detention center, and because he suffers from personality disorders.
The lawyers said Griffith was a gifted scientist who believed he was acting in the interest of peace but became obsessed with North Korea, the article said.
Griffith's sentencing is lighter than what federal prosecutors had asked for 63 to 78 months in prison and a fine of a maximum of $1 million.
Castel ordered Griffith to pay a $100,000 fine and said the five-year sentence was reached after considering the circumstances his lawyers presented and the need to prevent other people from violating sanctions.
“While we are disappointed with the sentence, we are pleased the judge acknowledged Virgil’s commitment to moving forward with his life productively, and that he is a talented person who has a lot to contribute,” said Brian Klein, one Griffith’s lawyers, in the WSJ article.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of ethereum and a friend to Griffith, had said on Twitter in the past, that many people advised him not to make the trip.
The visit to North Korea was one that Griffith took upon himself and not because of the Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit organization to support ethereum, a popular cryptocurrency platform.
Federal prosecutors said Griffith started working on his effort to bring a cryptocurrency infrastructure to North Korea in 2018.
The State Department had warned him to not travel to the country, but Griffith flew to Pyongyang in April 2019 to attend a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference, prosecutors said.
North Korea has been sanctioned by the U.S. and the United Nations Security Council because of its program to build its nuclear weapons.
These sanctions include bans on finance, trade and weapon sales.
During his talk to 100 people in Pyongyang, Griffith wore a North Korean uniform and discussed circumventing sanctions, according to the federal prosecutors.
He also discussed financial services using blockchain technology at the conference and consulted with North Korean citizens on the transfer of cryptocurrency assets.
