Spain detains man who helped Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith enter North Korea

Spanish police have arrested a c who helped Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith violate U.S. sanctions and journey to North Korea, Reuters reported on Dec. 1.

Native authorities reportedly found that Alejandro Cao de Benos was in Barcelona beneath a false identification and supposed to journey by prepare to Madrid. Police arrested Cao de Benos at a Madrid prepare station on Nov. 30.

Cao de Benos was launched with out situations after showing earlier than a Excessive Court docket choose on Dec. 1. Reportedly, an extradition course of is pending, although the U.S. should formalize its extradition request and supply documentation.

The accused insisted that he wouldn’t be extradited, writing on X:

“There isn’t any extradition. The US accusation, along with being false, doesn’t exist in Spain … My because of all of your messages and to the [Spanish police] for his or her good remedy and private assist.”

Cao de Benos famous {that a} explicit order was given beneath former U.S. President Donald Trump. Although the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) charged Cao de Benos and one other particular person in April 2022 after Trump’s presidency ended, an FBI poster means that costs have been underway as early as January.

Accused organized convention and organized journey

Virgil Griffith traveled to North Korea to take part in a crypto and blockchain convention in April 2019. He was arrested that November. Along with violating sanctions, U.S. authorities stated that Griffith supplied info that would assist North Korea evade sanctions and have interaction in cash laundering. Griffith was convicted in 2021 and sentenced in 2022; he’s at present in jail.

The DOJ alleges that Cao de Benos, via his personal Korean Friendship Affiliation and in cooperation with a U.S. businessman named Christopher Emms, helped set up the blockchain convention that Griffith attended.

Moreover, Cao de Benos and Emms allegedly recruited Griffith and organized for him to journey to the nation. The DOJ additionally states that Cao de Benos advised Griffith that North Korea wouldn’t stamp his passport, thereby concealing Griffith’s journey. After the convention concluded, Cao de Benos and Emms supposedly labored with Griffith on different North Korea-related blockchain efforts.

Cao De Benos and Emms have every been charged with one rely of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. Sanctions for a most sentence of 20 years in jail. Each are presumed harmless till discovered responsible.