Buterin calls for leniency as Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith sentenced to 63 months in prison

As the cryptocurrency market gradually enters a cold winter, the arrest of Virgil Griffith, which had been widely circulated in the currency circle, finally ushered in the final trial recently.

According to foreign media CoinDesk, on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York sentenced former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith to 63 months in prison and a fine of $100,000 for helping North Korea use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions.

So how did all this happen? It all seems to date back to 2019, at a cryptocurrency conference held in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act

In November 2019, Virgil Griffith, a member of the Ethereum Foundation's special project team, went to North Korea to attend the cryptocurrency conference and gave a speech on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at the conference. Everything seemed to be going smoothly and normally, but the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI suddenly announced on November 30 that they had arrested and charged Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith.

The following is part of the information provided by the US authorities regarding Virgil Griffith:

• Before the meeting, the US State Department had warned Virgil Griffith that he was not allowed to go to North Korea, but Virgil Griffith still decided to attend the meeting in person;

• At the meeting, Virgil Griffith shared with attendees highly technical information about how North Korea uses blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and evade sanctions, knowing that this would violate sanctions laws.

Based on the above actions, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York believes that Virgil Griffith violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prohibits the export of goods, services or technology to North Korea, and may be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

After being arrested again, he "accidentally" pleaded guilty

Following his arrest, Virgil Griffith was released on $1 million bail in late December 2019, with the condition that he not enter the state of California or access his cryptocurrency accounts.

But in July 2021, Virgil Griffith was imprisoned again for allegedly attempting to violate bail conditions: the U.S. Attorney's Office said that Virgil Griffith tried to access his cryptocurrency account on Coinbase through a third party in order to pay for his lawyers.

After being arrested again, Virgil Griffith, who tried to explain that he "did not help North Korea", "accidentally" pleaded guilty on September 27, 2021, and accepted a plea agreement of 63 to 78 months in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million.

At the time, Virgil Griffith's attorney, Brian Klein, said in a statement: "Virgil is deeply remorseful. Apart from this incident, he has made many important contributions to society, which we will present in court. He has many great qualities, and no one should let this mistake define him."

(Note: Virgil Griffith is famous for creating WikiScanner, an indexing tool for Wikipedia. Since then, he has been a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation since joining the Ethereum cryptocurrency platform in 2016.)

Vitalik supports Virgil Griffith

In fact, after Virgil Griffith was first arrested, the entire cryptocurrency community was greatly divided over this.

At the time, The Block’s research director Larry Cermak tweeted: “Regarding the Virgil Griffith incident, I think both Virgil and the Ethereum Foundation have very poor judgment. Virgil may not even realize what he did wrong, and it is even more shocking that the Ethereum Foundation did not intervene.”

In contrast, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has always been supportive of Virgil Griffith in recent years: not only did he post a petition on Twitter in 2019 to release Virgil Griffith (although the petition only received a few hundred signatures), but he also wrote a letter to the district judge of the Southern District of New York this year, asking the court to grant leniency to Virgil Griffith. According to reports, Vitalik Buterin detailed his seven-year friendship with Virgil Griffith since 2013 in the letter, and began collaborating on Ethereum blockchain research in 2016.

In addition to Vitalik, more than 40 people, including Virgil Griffith's relatives and colleagues, also wrote letters requesting the court to show leniency to Virgil Griffith. His lawyer also asked the court to consider a more lenient two-year sentence.

Final sentence: 63 months in prison and $100,000 in fines

However, judging from the final verdict given by the court a few days ago, Virgil Griffith did not receive leniency: he was sentenced to 63 months in prison (5 years and 3 months) and had to pay a fine of 100,000 US dollars.

According to foreign media CoinDesk, before Virgil Griffith was finally sentenced, he and his lawyer could express their objections in court for the last time, so throughout the entire "debate", Virgil Griffith's side revolved around "asking for leniency."

His lawyer Brian Klein pointed out that considering that Virgil Griffith spent 10 difficult months in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) under extremely poor conditions (poor food, no visitors, insufficient warmth supplies, etc.), he suggested that the judge consider counting these 10 months as double time.

In addition, Brian Klein also provided a recent psychological assessment report on Virgil Griffith, which showed that Virgil Griffith suffered from two personality disorders: narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Brian Klein analyzed that this was the reason why Virgil Griffith went to North Korea despite the advice of his family, friends and the government. His psychiatrist also believed that Virgil Griffith was "unlikely to commit a crime again."

During Virgil Griffith's speech, he sincerely said: "I have learned my lesson and feel very guilty about being here and everything I have done."

However, Kevin Castel, the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York who made the final judgment, was not moved by the above words and deeds, because he reviewed a series of text messages and emails from Virgil Griffith: not only did he clearly want to help the North Korean regime evade sanctions, but there was also a "very hateful" meeting photo - Virgil Griffith was wearing a traditional Korean suit, standing in front of a blackboard with the words "No sanctions!" written on it, with a smile on his face.

Kevin Castel concluded: “In reality, Virgil Griffith wants to be a crypto hero — to be admired and praised for his fearless and noble behavior in the face of government sanctions.”

Reference Links:

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/12/former-ethereum-developer-virgil-griffith-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-for-north-korea-trip/

• https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/09/27/7-nights-in-pyongyang-inside-the-north-korean-trip-that-got-ethereums-virgil-griffith-arrested/