US prosecutors oppose Ethereum Dev’s move to reduce 5-year prison sentence

Officials at the United States Department of Justice have written a letter opposing former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith's objection to a reduced 2022 sentence for violating sanctions imposed on North Korea.

In a June 17 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said a judge denied Griffith's request to reduce his sentence to 51 months. A judge sentenced the former Ethereum developer to 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine in April 2022, with an expected release date of January 2026, given the time he served before his sentencing hearing.

“Griffiths has chosen to evade his own country's sanctions in order to provide services to a hostile foreign power, specifically services designed to teach and promote cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to further evade US and UN sanctions,” he said. Griffith took action despite North Korea's atrocities against its own citizens and threats against the United States, including nuclear capabilities.

At a 2019 crypto and blockchain conference in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, Griffith made more than one presentation about how the country could use it to evade sanctions and launder money. The lawyers of Ethereum developers argued in court that he was suffering from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder, leading to an obsession with the reclusive nation.

Claims of petty theft behind bars

Prosecutors added that Bureau of Prisons officials disciplined Griffith on “multiple occasions” during his stay at the federal correctional facility in Milan, Michigan. Citing reports from prison officials, the former Ethereum developer “tried to steal soap and tea” and committed other minor infractions after prison.

“The defendant's recent actions [doesn’t] Show any basis for further negligence […] At the very least, these incidents do not suggest compliance with government guidelines and directives.

In April, Griffith's legal team asked the court to revise the 63-month prison sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines after his conviction. Under the new guidelines, a court would consider reducing Griffith's sentence of 51 to 63 months from 63 to 78 months in prison — potentially reducing his sentence by up to a year, making him eligible for release in January 2025. .

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During his sentencing hearing in April 2022, Griffiths said he was “saved” from his “obsession with North Korea” by the sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the country's attack on Ukraine. Judge Kevin Casteel said at the time that Griff had no ideology, “as long as he's in the middle, he'll play both sides.”

Griffith's legal team is expected to respond to the US government's letter within 14 days. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges, the U.S. Commerce Department has placed a 10-year export embargo on Griffith until 2032 that restricts it from making any transactions involving goods, software or technology under the U.S. Export Act.

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