Today’s hearing was an appeal of a denial of bond reported last week by the Inner City Press public interest group. The U.S. attorney in that case cited text messages indicating an intent to renounce his citizenship as a deciding factor in the denial.
Virgil Griffith is slated to be released to his parents’ home in Alabama pending some pre-release conditions, after a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Vernon Broderick in New York Monday.
«Laws in this country are not suggestions,» Judge Broderick told the accused Ethereum Foundation developer as the hearing began, according to a tweet thread from Matthew Russell Lee, founder of Inner City Press, who covered the hearing live from the courtroom. Griffith is now slated be released to his parent’s Tuscaloosa home under a $1 million bond.
«We are very pleased the district judge sided with us and ordered Virgil to be released pending trial,» Griffith’s attorney, Brian Klein, of Baker Marquart LLP, told CoinDesk in a statement.
Griffith is being held for allegedly violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by traveling to North Korea for a cryptocurrency conference organized by the government in Pyongyang.
Following a discussion of Griffith’s likelihood of flight risk and assets he might control outside the country, the judge ruled he could be released to his family as «moral suasion,» according to Lee.
CoinDesk has not yet determined how long it will take for Griffith to leave state custody. We will update this story as necessary. According to Inner City Press: «Pre-conditions to release are the signing of the $1 million bond (his father is here in NY) & Pre Trial Services in Alabama visiting. OKing the home in Tuscaloosa. «
CoinDesk has contacted the U.S. Attorney’s office for additional details but it was not immediately available for comment at press time.
Ethereum Incubator ConsenSys Slashes Headcount 14% in Latest Strategic Shift
Ethereum venture studio ConsenSys is shifting focus – and downsizing as a result.
The Brooklyn, N.Y., company announced at an all-staff meeting Tuesday its latest restructuring would shrink the firm’s headcount by approximately 14 percent. When asked, ConsenSys did not explain how many individuals the cuts would affect or state its current headcount.
“In the coming months, ConsenSys will finalize the transition from its venture production model and spin out a number of its internally funded projects into the ConsenSys Investments portfolio”, the company said in a statement.
The move is meant to prioritize the development of some of the ethereum ecosystem’s leading infrastructure platforms. ConsenSys said Tuesday it will “operate a software business composed of several of its products optimized for a modular stack”, including Infura, PegaSys, MetaMask, Codefi and others.
According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Tuesday’s move will let ConsenSys focus on those four core products. “It really is quite sensible to separate the two business strategies”, the source said.
The company will continue its venture work under the ConsenSys Investments banner, with a focus on “early-stage equity, liquid digital assets, and strategic opportunities where applicable”, ConsenSys said in a statement.
The firm’s enterprise-focused “Solutions” arm will now “directly support the software business”, ConsenSys said.
Led by ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, the company laid off about 13 percent of its workforce in a late-2018 restructuring dubbed “ConsenSys 2.0.” Tuesday’s move is the result of a “conclusive evaluation” of the company’s projects over the past year, the source with knowledge added.
