[adventured]

I'm entirely unsympathetic. He knew exactly what he was doing, he knew that it was illegal and he knew who he was helping out. That's all extraordinarily clear.

Maybe it's as simple as Griffith looking to make a name for himself and jumpstart a criminal enterprise that he knew would inherently involve doing blackmarket deals with bad actors. He certainly knew who he was helping out, re North Korea. Having the North Korean effort on your new criminal resume would be a large resume booster. It also explains why he would be looking to leave the US, where he'd be guaranteed to get nailed by the feds for anything in that arena eventually (and sooner than later). There has certainly been enough of that action in the crypto era and money is a prime motivator for most people.

[mirimir]

I guess. But 5-20 years in federal prison is quite the career investment.

[tptacek]

5 is the high side, not the low side, according to the sentencing guidelines (which directly capture the fact that it's North Korea he helped; the sentencing guidelines for 50 USC 1705 practically read as if they were written specifically for North Korea).

[tomjakubowski]

Where do you see five years as the high end? 50 USC §1705 says "not more than 20 years".

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1705

[tptacek]

That's not how sentences work. Read the federal sentencing guidelines.

[MertsA]

Not to nitpick, but it's not like the sentencing guidelines are binding. The judge can still choose to hand down a sentence outside of what the sentencing guidelines prescribe. Case and point, Paul Manafort and his "otherwise blameless life".

[tptacek]

I'm just going to say that the sentencing guidelines capture 50 USC 1705 directly and are written in such a way as to suggest that North Korea is exactly what they were thinking of.

[haasted]

He’s a resident of Singapore, so “looking to leave the US” was not really relevant. Seems he should have stayed away, though.