An American crypto promoter and ex-hacker has pleaded guilty in a New York court to advising North Korea on ways to evade sanctions via virtual money.
In 2018, Virgil Griffith launched Singapore-based projects to provide services to North Koreans to develop and finance cryptocurrency structures, including mining, according to the Southern District Court of New York.
Griffith faces up to 20 years in prison with a ruling to be announced in January 2022.
Pyongyang Conference
The 38-year old ex-hacker attendance a conference on blockchain and virtual currencies in Pyongyang in April 2019 and spoke about how to use related technologies «to evade sanctions», said the U.S. Justice Department which added that Griffith announced plans to renounce his U.S. citizenship with the aim of purchasing citizenship elsewhere.
After the conference, Griffith «began formulating plans to facilitate the exchange of cryptocurrency between the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and South Korea, despite knowing that assisting with such an exchange would violate sanctions,» the Justice Department said.
Griffith was subsequently arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in November 2019.
