The Ethereum researcher Virgil Griffith was released on April 9 from the custody of prison, the official of the Bureau of Prison (BOP) confirmed CoinTelegraph.
According to the crypto developer Brantly Milregan, Griffith stays in half a house for several weeks while waiting to take the following steps in his probation officer.
Griffith was arrested in 2019 because he had gave a lecture on Blockchain technology and his power to avoid US sanctions against an audience in North Korea.
Virgil Griffith in the middle together with his parents immediately after his release from prison custody on April 9. Source: Brantly Milregan
The US government claimed that the researcher had violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by giving North Korea “high -technical information”, although the content of the lecture published on the Internet is widespread.
Griffith's case underlines the strain between blockchain developers and state powers, for the reason that resulting technology continues to create paths for people and countries to flee financial control individuals, censorship and surveillance.
Virgil Griffith's legal dispute against US prosecutors
In January 2020, a US Grand Jury Schrechith accused the federal government of the federal government's authorization to limit the federal government of the federal government between US residents and foreign powers which can be considered controversial for the United States.
Griffith initially not guilty of the indictment. The software developers' lawyers submitted an application to dismiss the case in October 2020 and argued that Griffith didn’t violate the law by publicly known what was already widespread.
Griffith a couple of crypto -oriented lecture in 2019 in front of a North Korean audience. Source: CoinTelegraph/Ministry of Justice of the United States.
After a protracted legal dispute that lasted almost two years, Griffith owes to have violated sanction laws as a part of a plea agreement with the US government in September 2021.
The Ethereum researcher was convicted of 63 months in prison and in April 2022 by the court by the court paid a positive of $ 100,000. However, the legal dispute didn’t end.
Two years later, in April 2024, the researcher's lawyers submitted an application to cut back the prison sentence that the US prosecutors pronounced and referred to Griffith's actions as harmful to national security.
Despite the setback from the prosecutors, the New York judge Kevin Castel made a choice in July 2024, which reduced the prison sentence of Griffth to 56 months.
