Christopher Emms has been allegedly arrested and detained in Moscow for aiding North Korea with its crypto pursuits. It’s not Emm’s first time to be arrested on the matter as he had been in Saudi custody too but was released for lack of enough evidence.
Moscow detains a suspect for aiding North Korea
The Moscow bureau of Interpol has allegedly detained Christopher Emms in connection with past allegations of consulting for North Korea in crypto-related services. The British Citizen was arrested upon his landing in Moscow as his name had been on Interpol’s “red notice”
The 31-year-old British Citizen is alleged to have contacted North Korea and consulted for them in April 2022 alongside Spanish national Alejandro Cao De Benos. Interpol alleges that the two offered knowledge to North Korea on how to use blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in money laundering and evasion of sanctions.
More information indicates that the two planned and moderated the 2019 Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference. It also indicated that there was a third person in the conspiracy, Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum developer. Griffith was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2019 and pleaded guilty to the charges, which ended up getting him 63 months in prison.
Now, Emms could face up to 20 years in jail for one count of conspiring with North Korea to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Crypto crackdowns continue
Crypto crackdowns are increasingly becoming a hot trend in the crypto market. The US has been at the forefront of these crackdowns. Earlier this month, the US settled charges with Kraken crypto exchange and continued taking legal action against crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman Fried. Binance plans to settle charges with the US SEC by taking a penalty.
The UK has been adamant about a crypto advertisement, a stance South Africa is also taking. The two countries seek to free their citizens from the dangers of wrong and deceitful crypto advertisements.
These efforts foreshadow a coming regulatory clean-up in the crypto space. Keep watching fintechexpress for this and other news as soon as they happen.