Tangent: Virgil Griffith Update, From MDC And Covid-19 Bout Isolation...

You may recall that Virgil Griffith decided to admit guilt on felony charges, on the morning of his trial in Manhattan, for (as the indictment averred) transferring very sensitive "sanctions-evading" tech to the brutal dictatorship running "socialist" North Korea, at a crypto- conference there after being warned by the US State Department officers. . . not to go, and not to give any talk on such tech.

Since July 2021, then -- he's been held in the MDC in Brooklyn, awaiting sentencing.

This is not patty-cake, at some (largely mythical) club fed. He is subsisting under very significant hardship, now (dangerous, to boot -- so the irony of it all, is that he is now first hand experiencing at least a fraction of what his talk on evading sanctions could well-inflict, on real vulnerable humans still trapped inside North Korea). At least a glimpse.

He has trouble reaching his counsel, and has had at least one bout of COVID. You may read more below, but his sentencing hearing is now pushed out to mid-April 2022. He will have served over nine months, in very harsh conditions, by the time he attends his sentencing hearing.

Here is the three page letter, in full -- and a bit:

. . .We make this request because since mid-December we have been unable to visit with our client at the MDC due to COVID-19, despite repeated efforts to confer with him, and we are uncertain when that will change so that we can work with him to prepare for his sentencing.

Before Christmas, Mr. Griffith contracted COVID-19 and was subsequently held in isolation for approximately 10 days. Counsel was unable to have any contact with him during that time; we were not allowed to visit or schedule video or telephone calls. Despite Mr. Griffith having since being released from isolation, there have not been any in-person attorney visits permitted at the MDC due to the COVID-19 outbreak at the facility. In addition, we have repeatedly tried to schedule calls with him despite the facility not permitting call or videoconferences without explanation. It was not until this Tuesday, January 12, 2022, that we were able to have a telephone call with him. The prosecutors helped us secure this call, for which we are greatly appreciative.

It is worth noting that the MDC’s lockdown has also resulted in significantly reduced food rations, extremely limited opportunities to shower, lack of any time outside, and delayed access to necessary prescription medications for Mr. Griffith, imposing significant hardships on him. . . .

Now you know -- so think twice you boy-geniuses of the crypto- world, before deciding the laws are only for the little people.

G'night, as snow wherls lazily forn here -- thriugh frigid night air. It is not terribly hard to imagine that young Griffith thought that if Tangerine was over there, glad handing -- and he was, just months earlier -- why oh why should it matter if silly, tossel-headed Virgil told some tales out of school to wow the same North Koreans Tangerine was shaking hands with, in the DMZ.

But as they always say. . . following an ignorant, malevolent "leader" -- is no defense to crimes against one's own home nation.

Out.

नमस्ते