US cryptocurrency expert Virgil Griffith jailed 63 months for helping North Korea evade sanctions
- At a 2019 conference in Pyongyang, the well-known hacker gave information on how the country could use cryptocurrency to dodge sanctions
- The West has imposed increasingly tight penalties on North Korea in recent years to try to rein in its nuclear missile programmes
Virgil Griffith, 39, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, admitting he presented at a cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in 2019 even after the US government denied his request to travel there.
A well-known hacker, Griffith also developed “cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside North Korea,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. At the 2019 conference, he advised more than 100 people – including several who appeared to work for the North Korean government – on how to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and achieve independence from the global banking system.
Prosecutors said Griffith acknowledged his presentation amounted to a transfer of technical knowledge to conference attendees.
“Griffith is an American citizen who chose to evade the sanctions of his own country to provide services to a hostile foreign power,” prosecutors wrote. “He did so knowing that power – North Korea – was guilty of atrocities against its own people and has made threats against the United States citing its nuclear capabilities.”