British national detained in Moscow for assisting North Korea in using blockchain technology to evade US sanctions

Interpol detained Christopher Emms, a 31-year-old British national, on February 21 in Moscow. Emms and two accomplices, according to the US government, helped the North Korean leadership avoid US sanctions. Emms was detained in the hostel where he was staying after Interpol issued a "red alert," according to the local media. Assuming that Moscow would refuse to extradite him to the US under NWO and sanctions conditions, the 31-year-old suspect headed to Russia. According to the reports, Emms and Spanish national Alejandro Cao De Benos allegedly advised North Korea on how to use blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to launder money and evade sanctions. The two planned and coordinated the Pyongyang Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Conference in 2019. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] Image credit- UK Daily News[/caption] The third conspirator is Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum developer who was apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2019. Griffith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 63 months in jail. Emms faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. According to Chainalysis, North Korean-affiliated groups stole more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies from companies in the cryptocurrency business in 2022, largely using open-source DeFi protocols. This amounts to an increase from $400 million in 2021 and makes up a third of all recent losses in the bitcoin sector due to cyber incursions. Due to its use by North Korean threat actors, Blender, a centralized cryptocurrency mixer, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in May 2022. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Image credit- The Guardian[/caption] Then, in August 2022, Tornado Cash was placed on a blacklist for the same reasons, but thanks to its decentralized architecture, it has continued to run. In the same way, a regular corporation can be isolated from the financial system, but it cannot be done so. According to the reports, Saudi Arabia rejected the US request for Emms' extradition in September 2022 due to a lack of legal justification and freed her after an eight-month travel ban. He escaped from Saudi Arabia right away and went to Russia. Local officials chose to support their American counterparts despite being a target of the DoJ's efforts to impose financial penalties in the cryptocurrency sector and amid rising Russo-US tensions. Also read: Tim Cook responds to teen who used his Apple Watch to call for help after a 130-foot fall There is inadequate evidence against Emms, according to legal rights defender Radha Stirling, CEO of Due Process International, a non-governmental organization that defends human rights against foreign enforcement agents.