North Korea Sanction Case: 2 EU Citizens Involved With Virgil Griffith Charged With Conspiracy

Two European citizens have been charged for conspiring with Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith to help North Korea violate U.S. sanctions by providing currency and blockchain technology to the hermit country.

Court documents alleged that Christopher Emms, a U.K. citizen, and Alejandro Cao De Benos, a man from Spain, conspired to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea when they planned and organized the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in the country in 2019.

"As alleged, Alejandro Cao De Benos and Christopher Emms conspired with Virgil Griffith, a cryptocurrency expert convicted of conspiring to violate economic sanctions imposed on North Korea, to teach and advise members of the North Korean government on cutting-edge cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, all for the purpose of evading U.S. sanctions meant to stop North Korea’s hostile nuclear ambitions," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York said.

The cryptocurrency and blockchain conference in the hermit country provided instruction on how North Korea could utilize the emerging technology not only to launder money but also to evade sanctions, court documents show. Presentations prepared by Emms and Griffith were allegedly approved by North Korean officials, and were created to fit the audience, court documents revealed.

Even after the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, Cao De Benos and Emms allegedly continued to communicate with North Korea and conspired with Griffith in providing "additional cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services," the US Department of Justice revealed. This includes attempting to develop cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside the hermit country, brokering attendees to other crypto service providers and recruiting others, using Griffith's contacts to provide expert services to the country.

Griffith is a well-known personality in the cryptocurrency industry because of his work on the Ethereum platform during its early days of inception. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him in November 2019 and he pleaded guilty to violating International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in September 2021.

Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in prison and was fined $100,000 on April 12. Emms and Cao De Benos remain at large, according to the USDOJ.