One of the developers of ETH, Virgil Griffith, has apparently violated one of the many terms of his bail putting him back in custody. The term- he has allegedly accessed his account in cryptocurrency. The order of remand came directly from the United States District Judge P. Kevin Castel after the developer went on to gain access to the assets of Ethereum that was under Coinbase back in May.
ETH Developer Could Be Seeing 20 Years In prison
The researcher of the Ethereum Foundation will be spending the next two months in prison, as his trial has been scheduled on the 21st of September on multiple charges of conspiracy which sees him violating sanctions in North Korea.
The charges are quite dangerous- he could be seeing at least 20 years in prison. According to law website Law360, the main concern of Judge Castel is the flight risk that comes with Griffith as the developer of ETH has increased the value of the assets under his control into the $1 million range. This does influence his decision to access his account- as stated by the district judge.
Public prosecutors did seek remand on the 9th of July after they claimed that Griffith had violated the terms of his bail that definitely restricts his usage of the internet. He has also accessed Coinbase to request the removal of multiple security functions on his account. This comes across as definitely strange- with him claiming that he would be needing the two-factor authentication on his ETH accounts removed since the FBI has control over his devices.
The defense has stated that the attempt to access his ETH account on Coinbase was definitely made after a consultation with his counsel. Also, it has been added that his extended family in Alabama was the one that attempted on his behalf. The charges and subsequent indictment against Griffith came on the 7th of Jan after he was arrested back in the November of 2019 as he conspired to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
