Crypto Conference in North Korea Leads to More Criminal Charges

Two men were charged with helping a U.S. cryptocurrency expert evade U.S. sanctions on North Korea by discussing blockchain technology at a conference held in the isolated East Asian country.

Alejandro Cao de Benos of Spain and Christopher Emms, a U.K. citizen, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, the Department of Justice said Monday. Cao de Benos and Emms allegedly worked with Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum Foundation cryptocurrency scientist, who participated in a 2019 blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the department said.