The sentence of former Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith, accused of violating the law on sanctions due to visiting the DPRK, was reduced from 63 to 56 months in prison. This is reported by The Block.
When making the decision, the US District Judge took into account the difficulties faced by the developer while serving his sentence, and took into account a number of "disciplinary violations" on his part.
"The need to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant has somewhat dissipated, although the court notes "violations of the rules" on the part of the defendant during his detention in BOP," the judge said.
In particular, Griffith had a conflict with a cellmate, which is why he agreed with the officer on a temporary transfer to another cell without official documents for this. An inspection at the institution that took place at that time revealed this violation.
Griffith's lawyers had previously insisted on commuting the sentence due to their client's lack of criminal history and financial irregularities.
In turn, the prosecutor noted that the developer knew about "the atrocities of North Korea against its own people and the threats of the country's leadership against the United States," so his trip should be regarded as "brazen participation in a conspiracy to violate sanctions."
Recall that in April 2019, the developer attended a blockchain conference in Pyongyang. He was arrested in November of the same year and accused of providing North Korea with information about the use of cryptocurrencies to circumvent US sanctions and money laundering during the event.
Griffith later pleaded guilty and in April 2022, the court sentenced him to five years and three months in prison, as well as a fine of $100,000.
In June 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce revoked export privileges for the developer for 10 years.