Russia Detained a Briton at request of U. S for crypto assistance to North Korea
2023.02.21 09:38
Russia Detained a Briton at request of U. S for crypto assistance to North Korea
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – A British national charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was detained by the Moscow bureau of Interpol. The man is accused of working together to break American sanctions against North Korea.
Christopher Emms was arrested in Moscow on February 21 in response to a “red notice” from Interpol, according to local media. The British national, who was 31 years old, was detained in the hostel where he was staying.
Together with Alejandro Cao De Benos, a Spanish national, Emms allegedly instructed North Korea in April 2022 on how to use cryptocurrency and blockchain to evade sanctions and launder money. The 2019 Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in Pyongyang was planned and put together by the two.
Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum developer, is the third conspirator. He was detained in November 2019 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, pleaded guilty, and received a 63-month prison sentence. For one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Emms faces up to 20 years in prison.
Prior assertions made by Radha Stirling, founder of Due Process International, a non-governmental organization that aids in the defense of human rights in the face of international enforcement agencies, included the following:
“Because he didn’t do anything wrong; He didn’t give North Korea any information that wasn’t already on Google’s first page.
After an eight-month travel ban, Saudi Arabia released Emms in September 2022 and denied the American extradition request due to the absence of a legal basis. He left the country right away and fled to Russia. However, in spite of the DoJ’s efforts to impose financial sanctions on the crypto industry against the nation, local officials decided to assist their American counterparts.
