British Citizen Charged By DoJ For Crypto Fraud Arrested In Russia

Key Points:

• British national Christopher Emms, who was wanted for defrauding the US government, has been apprehended by the Russian Bureau of Interpol in Moscow.
• The North Korean government allegedly received assistance from Emms and two of her allies in getting under US sanctions, according to US authorities.

The Moscow bureau of Interpol detained a British national charged by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ). The man is accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on North Korea.

According to local media, on February 21, The Russian Bureau of Interpol in Moscow detained British citizen Christopher Emms, who was put on the wanted list for fraud against the US government. The 31-year-old British citizen was detained in the hostel where he was staying.

The United States government alleges that Emms and two associates helped the North Korean government circumvent sanctions imposed by Washington.

According to the US Department of Justice, in April 2022, alongside Spanish national Alejandro Cao De Benos, Emms allegedly provided instructions to North Korea on how it could use blockchain and cryptocurrency to launder money and evade sanctions. The two planned and organized the 2019 Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference.

The third participant in the conspiracy is Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum developer. He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2019, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 63 months in prison. Emms could face up to 20 years in prison for one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

In September 2022, Saudi Arabia rejected the American extradition request for the lack of a legal basis and released Emms after an eight-month travel ban. He immediately left the country and fled to Russia. However, despite the country being targeted by the DoJ’s efforts to enforce the financial sanctions in the crypto sector, the local officials decided to help their American counterparts.

Radha Stirling, the founder of Due Process International, a nongovernmental organization that helps to defend human rights in the face of international enforcement agencies, previously claimed that there was no strong evidence against Emms.

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