| In NoKo
Crypto Case Inner City Press Won Unsealing
Now Griffith Wants To Be Consultant
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 20– Virgil Griffith,
charged with violating North
Korea sanctions in connection
with a crypto-currency
conference there, will now
seek to get the case moved for
lack of venue out of the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New
York.
This emerged at a
telephone conference in the
case on May 18. Griffith's
defense lawyer Brian E. Klein
said he is ready to file a
motion on venue as early as
this Friday May 22, based on "ex
parte, in camera"
filings he made with SDNY
Judge P. Kevin Castel.
Inner City Press, which has
covered the case from
Griffith's first appearance in
the SDNY Magistrates Court to
his Christmas holiday legal
moves to get released to home
confinement in Alabama,
immediately sought the
still-sealed documents in this
criminal case, see below.
Now on July
20, Klein has requested for
Griffith restored access to
the Internet, telling Judge
Castel in letter here
on Patreon that while on leave
from Ethereum another unnamed
company has offered to make
him a consultant, but that
Klein would wants it name
sealed : "Before making the
instant motion for these
limited modifications, counsel
for Mr. Griffith made plain
these points to the government
in the hope of avoiding
unnecessary litigation and
presenting a joint proposal to
the Court. In response, the
government stated that it
would oppose any such request.
In an email, the government
stated: We will not agree to
remove your client from home
detention. Particularly in the
wake of the pandemic, we see
no basis for such an
application. Please advise if
you believe there is a
specific need driving your
position. We are aware of
none. We similarly do not see
any basis for your client to
have unmonitored access to the
internet. If you would like to
suggest some form of limited
and monitored access, we would
be willing to confer with
Pretrial Services regarding
the feasibility of any
proposal....
The pandemic has
demonstrated that many
employees can do their jobs
entirely remotely and that is
true of Mr. Griffith, who
holds a PhD from California
Institute of Technology
(Caltech), and is a
mathematical theorist and
experienced computer
programmer. While he has been
placed on leave by his former
employer during the pendency
of these charges, he has been
offered one consulting
contract, which can be
submitted to the Court under
seal. No less a consideration
given the Bail Reform Act’s
directive that bail conditions
be the “least restrictive” to
ensure appearance, Mr.
Griffith also wants to have
Internet access to do other
productive activities that the
rest of us enjoy—such as
seeing friends on FaceTime or
Zoom, downloading music or
YouTube videos or watching
live-streamed events, booking
gym visits, or taking online
classes. Without Internet
access, it is impossible for
him to do those things." We'll
have more on this.
Judge
Castel to his credit the same
day asked each side's counsel
to respond: "The Court has
received an application from
Inner City Press for the
unsealing of certain
applications by the defendant
for the issuance of subpoenas.
The parties shall respond to
the application by May 22,
2020. If there is no
objection, the Court will
order the applications and any
resulting order unsealed."
On May 29,
Judge Castel ruled: "Defendant
is directed to file forthwith
on ECF his ex parte and in
camera applications for
subpoenas pursuant to Federal
Rule of Criminal Procedure 17.
(Signed by Judge P. Kevin
Castel on 5/29/2020) (ap)."
And now
they have been filed: a March
17 letter and affirmation, and
the subpoena itself, for "A
list of any and all IP
addresses associated with the
email address
dprk.un@verizon.net, and any
logs or similar records of
access to the email address
dprk.un@verizon.net, for the
period from November 1, 2018
to October 30, 2019."
Inner City
Press has uploaded the
application, affirmation and
subpoena on Patreon here.
An
aside: the application of
diplomatic immunity and/or the
Vienna convention to this
subpoena, and Verizon's
response to it, remain
UNclear.
On June 1,
Griffith's lawyer filed a
motion to dismiss for lack of
venue, stating that Griffith's
email to the North Korea
Mission in New York, responded
to, might not have been
"received" in New York. Inner
City Press is tweeting the
photo here.
Watch this site.
On
May 28, from Judge Castel
again to his credit, this:
"ORDER as to Virgil Griffith.
The government advises that
the defendant consents to
public disclosure of his ex
parte and in camera
application for a subpoena
pursuant to Federal Rule of
Criminal Procedure 17 (the
Application) but does not
consent to advance disclosure
of the Application to the
government. To enable the
government to intelligently
state its position on public
disclosure, defendant shall
transmit the Application to
the government by 1 p.m.
today, May 28, 2020. The
government shall state whether
it has any objection to public
disclosure by 1 p.m. on May
29, 2020. The Court will
thereafter rule on whether the
Application should be publicly
filed (Signed by Judge P.
Kevin Castel on 5/28/20)(jw)."
Watch this site.
The case is US v.
Griffith, 20-cr-15
(Castel).
***
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