Arrest Of U.S. Citizen For Assisting North Korea In Evading Sanctions

Re:Arrest Of U.S. Citizen For Assisting North Korea In Evadi... by CryptoPunk on Saturday November 30, 2019 @04:09AM (#21669206)

Wasn't this just a presentation providing generic blockchain information? I don't think he's being accused of advising on how to use the blockchain for any specific illegal act, let alone a "sophisticated money laundering scheme".

From a brief read through of the government's case, it seems their case rests on the accused doing the presentation despite having privately admitted to his friend that North Korea is likely interested in cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions.

See this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKkbzzYWwAAdAqa?format=jpg&name=...

tl;dr: In a response to a question about why he thought NK was interested in cryptocurrency, he is alleged to have said "probably to avoid sanctions ... who knows".

So it was his alleged belief that they would probably utilize the general information on the blockchain that he would be presenting for illegal purposes that made his giving of the presentation illegal, according to the government.

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Re:Arrest Of U.S. Citizen For Assisting North Korea In Evadi... by tptacek on Saturday November 30, 2019 @06:33PM (#21672745)

The current law regarding North Korea forbids providing technical training that would support their money laundering or evasion of sanctions, and they've apparently got Griffith talking about sanctions evasion directly, so they've got what seem to be multiple predicates to pursue this on.

[ Parent | on HN ]