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US Says Info On Virgil Griffith Could Implicate Safety and Impede Investigation So Sealed

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC - Decrypt - Guardian UK - The Source

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 16 – Virgil Griffith who was arrested on Thanksgiving on federal charges of illegally traveling to North Korea and provide crypto currency advice and was denied bail on December 26 was on appeal on December 30 ordered released on bail. Inner City Press' live-tweeted thread here and new Patreon here.

 Now on January 16 a protective order has been signed requiring Griffith and his lawyer(s) to not disseminate the discovery information the US Attorney will provide them because it could "implicate the safety of others and impede ongoing investigations." Photo here.

   The indictment alludes to another person to be bought to the federal court in Manhattan. But how could safety be implicated?

   Some might ask, Does this imply a North Korean whistleblower? The Kim Jong Un government has been charged with murderous retaliation, including with poison in airports outside of the DPRK.

  Or is it just bluster, like the UN "experts" saying that the bare-bones indictment of Griffith shows that the purpose of the crypto-currency conference? Inner City Press will have more on this. More on Patreon here.

  On January 10 the US Attorney's Office wrote to Judge P. Kevin Castel and proposed that Griffith, after obtaining a state ID in Alabama, return to New York to be arraigned on the indictment on January 30. Their letter makes reference to excluding time under the Speedy Trial Act in order to explore a pre-trial disposition, which usually means guilty plea and settlement. But there is no indication that is being considered here. More on Patreon here.

 Griffith was not released on December 30, or for ten full days after. And while the US Attorney's Office initially responded to Inner City Press' questions by saying Griffith had not yet been released, then they stopped answering, several time.

  But in the docket on January 9 was the form, signed by Virgil Griffith and the Deputy Clerk of Court, and Assistant US Attorney Kyle A. Wirshba. So without explanation Virgil Griffith was held over 10 days, until he was indicted. More on Patreon here.

  On January 8 Inner City Press learned that Griffith has been formally indicted for "conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act," here. His case has been assigned to SDNY Judge P. Kevin Castel, as 20-cr-15: the fifteenth criminal case of the year in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

  This information was NOT obtained from the US Attorney's Office which Inner City Press has repeatedly asked in writing to disclose whether they in fact released Griffith on the bail granted by Judge Broderick and reported exclusively by Inner City Press. More on Patreon here.

  But Inner City Press on January 6 exclusively attended and covered another crypto-currency case in the chambers of Judge Castel, SEC v. Telegram (about its proposed blockchain Grams).  We'll have more on this. More on Patreon here.

  On January 2, Inner City Press is informed by the US Attorney's press office that Griffith has still not been released: "He has not satisfied his bail conditions yet.  Still awaiting the approval of his co-signers and the posting of properties as collateral." More on Patreon here.

  The bail appeal hearing began just after 11 am before Judge Broderick. Griffith's main lawyer Brian E. Klein of Baker Marquart LLP was present at the defense table. In the gallery along with Inner City Press was Virgil Griffith's father, who said he had been reading Inner City Press' tweets.

  Despite the US Attorney's Office, which sent ever more senior Assistants into the courtroom as the proceeding went on, hammering away about the Dark Web and crypto currency wallets in Virgil Griffith's apartment in Singapore, as well as his alleged mulling of buying a St. Kitts passport, Judge Broderick ordered him released.

  The conditions include a $1 million bond secured by the homes of his father and sister. He will be allowed to e-mail with his lawyers, and even to use his passport card for travel, pending getting an Alabama state ID.

  At the proceeding's conclusion Inner City Press asked the Assistant US Attorney if his Office could appeal Judge Broderick's decision and, after a pause as long as it took for the elevator doors to close, he said yes, it could be appealed.

  As Inner City Press has complained, the case until now has remained sealed. That should be ending - watch this site. Here's from Inner City Press' exclusive (live) reporting thread, and Patreon here.

After bond signed and house revisited, Virgil Griffith will be released. His father tells Inner City Press he's been reading its tweets.

   We've asked the Griffiths and their lawyer to provide any updates, and have been in questions to the US Attorney's Office. Watch this site.
And Patreon here.

The US Attorney's Office cited his text messages to his parents about renouncing his U.S. citizenship and setting up a money laundering business in North Korea.

  In the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York his parents were present, along with Inner City Press as the only media. They were there since the morning, and watched the other cases Inner City Press reported on.

  Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Ravener told SDNY Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses that Griffith had misled Pre-Trial Services about his residence in Puerto Rico; his laywer Mr. Buckley first said Griffith owned it, then that he rented.

  Judge Moses asked why he has a residence in Puerto Rico. Buckley said Puerto Rico is a developing area in the crypto space.

  Griffith's request to be released was first stayed by SDNY District Judge Denise Cote, operating a "Part I" judge at the time. Buckley at the conclusion near 5 pm of the bail denial hearing on December 26 said he and a colleague flying in might seek to appeal. Inner City Press will continue to cover this case, as it covered the OneCoin trial. Here is its live-tweet threat of December 26, more on Patreon here...

***

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