Cryptocurrency expert gets 5 years in NKorea sanctions case

By JIM MUSTIAN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency expert has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for helping North Korea evade U.S. sanctions. Thirty-nine-year-old Virgil Griffith pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, admitting he presented at a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea in 2019. That was even after the U.S. government denied his request to travel there. Prosecutors say Griffith, a well-known hacker, also developed “cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside North Korea.” Defense attorney Brian Klein described Griffith as a brilliant scientist “who developed a curiosity bordering on obsession” with North Korea. He said Griffith “loves his country and never set out to do any harm.”