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The authorities in the United States have announced the arrest of Virgil Griffith, a scientist with the ethereum foundation

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Virgil Griffith had previously said the trip was a personal one

At BlockBeats, the southern district office of the federal prosecutor's office in New York and the fbi announced today that they have arrested Virgil Griffith, a research scientist at the ethereum foundation, and charged him with violating the Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Griffith traveled to north Korea in April 2019 to attend and attend the Pyongyang blockchain and cryptocurrency conference, after the state department barred him from visiting the country, U.S. authorities said. At the meeting, Griffith and others "discussed how north Korea is using blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and evade western economic sanctions."

"As disclosed, Virgil Griffith provided highly technical information to north Korea knowing it could be used to help north Korea launder money and evade sanctions," U.S. attorney Geoffrey s. Berman said in a statement.

BlockBeats has learned that offences under the international emergency economic powers act carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Virgil Griffith, a U.S. citizen who lives in Singapore, and Vitalik are co-authors of ethereum 2.0's phased consensus mechanism, Casper FFB. He had previously said on twitter that his trip to north Korea was a personal vacation and had nothing to do with the ethereum foundation.

The ethereum foundation has yet to comment on the indictment filed against Virgil Griffith.