Alejandro Cao De Benos, Conspiring with a U.S. Citizen to Assist North Korea in Evading U.S. Sanctions, New York 2023

Two individuals are charged in a superseding indictment, unsealed today in the Southern District of New York, with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) by working with U.S. citizen Virgil Griffith to illegally provide cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to the DPRK.

Alejandro Cao De Benos, a 47-year-old citizen of Spain, and Christopher Emms, a 30-year-old citizen of the United Kingdom, partnered to jointly plan and organize the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference (the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference) for the benefit of the DPRK. Both Cao De Benos and Emms remain at large.

Griffith pleaded guilty to conspiring to assist North Korea in evading sanctions in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and was sentenced on April 12 to 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel.

“The United States will not allow the North Korean regime to use cryptocurrency to evade global sanctions designed to thwart its goals of nuclear proliferation and regional destabilization,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“As alleged, Alejandro Cao de Benos and Christopher Emms conspired with Virgil Griffith, a cryptocurrency expert convicted of conspiring to violate economic sanctions imposed on North Korea, to teach and advise members of the North Korean government on cutting-edge cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, all for the purpose of evading U.S. sanctions meant to stop North Korea’s hostile nuclear ambitions,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.

“Those contemplating evading U.S. sanctions against a foreign government should know the FBI and its partners will aggressively investigate these cases,” said Acting Assistant Director Bradley S. Benavides of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

Pursuant to the IEEPA and Executive Order 13466, U.S. persons are prohibited from exporting any goods, services or technology to the DPRK without a license from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and it is illegal to conspire with U.S. persons to do the same.

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