The US just charged @virgilgr with trying to help North Korea evade sanctions. Maximum sentence is 20 years.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-arrest-united-states-citizen-assisting-north-korea …
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I'm no lawyer, but it strikes me that there must be plenty of precedent for attending scientific conferences across sanction lines. All through the Cold War, to physics conferences prior to and during WW2.
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Explicitly saying that you're there to teach people how to evade sanctions is poking a beehive with a stick. The bees will not understand the full context of your words. That doesn't excuse the bees for being overzealous, but it also wasn't wise to mention these words.
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There's also the old adage about "don't ever voluntarily agree to a full search, real or digital." Just don't. Whether it's your person or phone. There's nothing that can come out of it other than a paragraph of your own words to be used against you in an indictment.
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Anyone who knows Virgil knows precisely how to interpret the statements in the indictment.
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Does North Korea need help evading sanctions? Absolutely not, they do fine on their own. Is a public conference talk by a young techie a national level threat? Absolutely not. Who busts sanctions? Corporations working behind the scenes, with a profit motive.
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Overall, the government's case looks misdirected. It also doesn't look strong. As an aside, there are many ways for a young techie to have a positive impact on the world that do not create an image problem for crypto.
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Replying to @el33th4xor
You have context here I don’t. The complaint looked pretty straightforward to me: it has him asking permission to go, having permission declined due to sanctions, going anyways, and then messaging people about helping DPRK violate sanctions. What am I missing?
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Replying to @tqbf @el33th4xor
There's also the maybe more fitting precedent of USG bringing a case against Bobby Fischer when he played a tournament in embargoed Yugoslavia, after being warned by State Dept not to go. Feels closer than sci conferences which typically involved mutually granted permission
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The Yugoslav tournament involved a cash prize, which is what got Fischer into trouble. The embargo was on commercial activity.
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