DID AMERICAN ACCUSED OF FACILITATING NORTH KOREAN SANCTIONS EVASION AT DPRK CRYPTOCURRENCY CONFERENCE MAKE A DEAL ?

(this was the 2020 conference; the defendant attended the 2019 edition)

Virgil Griffith, the American crypto-currency expert who, after failing to obtain an OFAC license, traveled to lecture at a North Korean blockchain & cryptocurrency conference, where he allegedly assisted in facilitating DPRK sanctions evasion, may have struck a plea deal. Griffith was charged with IEEPA violations earlier this year.

The conference venue

A review of the docket indicates no activity since an indictment in January, as well as one delay for the usual ends of justice statement. we are presuming that his counsel is presently engaged in plea negotiations with the US Attorney's Office in New York, where the case was brought.

Virgil Griffith in Pyongyang at conference

Readers who wish to review the Sealed Complaint may access the complete text here.