A Spanish man accused of teaching North Korea how to evade US sanctions using crypto says his passport was confiscated more than 7 years ago
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- A Spanish man accused of teaching North Korea to use crypto rejected the accusations.
- Alejandro Cao de Benós said his passport was confiscated 7 years ago, preventing foreign trips.
- "I have never been a fugitive," he said in a statement, calling the accusations "totally false."
A Spanish man pushed back against accusations that he was teaching North Koreans how to evade US sanctions using cryptocurrencies.
In a strongly worded statement, Alejandro Cao de Benós said his passport was confiscated seven and a half years ago by Spanish authorities, making any foreign trips, and therefore his presence in North Korea, impossible.
"I have never been a fugitive. I have been seven and a half years without a passport and have not left Spain by order of a judge, signing every Monday in court," he said, naming a judge in the Spanish municipality of Totana, Murcia.
The judge declined to confirm or give any statements to Business Insider.
Cao de Benós was arrested last Friday at a Madrid train station after Interpol alerted Spanish authorities to his possible presence on Spanish soil, Spain's National Police said in a statement.
He could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison in the US, the police statement said.
Spain's National Police told BI they don't have any more information to provide on this case.
The 48-year-old is accused of "conspiring" with Virgil Griffiths, a US citizen and cryptocurrency expert, to "illegally provide cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services" to North Korea, in breach of US sanctions, according to court records.
According to the indictment, Cao de Benós recruited Griffiths to "provide services" to North Korea and arranged his trip to the country's capital in April 2019 for Pyongyang's Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference.
During the conference, Griffiths and co-conspirator Christopher Emms provided advice and instructions on how North Korea "could use blockchain and cryptocurrencies to evade US sanctions," the indictment read.
Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in jail and fined $100,000 in 2022 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Trump-era International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The Office of Public Affairs said in a press release at the time that Griffith knew North Korea "could use these services to evade and avoid U.S. sanctions, and to fund its nuclear weapons program and other illicit activities."
US authorities issued an arrest warrant for Cao de Benós in 2022 on the same grounds, according to an FBI wanted list.
In his statement, Cao de Benós called the accusations "totally false," adding that there is "not a shred of evidence that I hired or solicited the services of Virgil Giffin."
"It is a disgrace that the US empire abuses Interpol and Spain to carry out a persecution that is purely political," he said.
In comments sent to BI, Cao de Benós said that: "at no time have I ever engaged the services of Virgil Griffith."
He also said that the "only possible explanation" for what was happening to him was political pressure and persecution "to stop my friendship activities between Korea and the rest of the world."
Cao de Benós is the founder of the Korean Friendship Association.
In an interview with the Spanish news program Cuatro al Día on Monday, Cao de Benós said his role was "limited" to passing on Giffin's data to North Korea to "authorize his entry."
"In all honesty, I don't understand why the US calls it a conspiracy because the accusation is that I have violated a US law by hiring— as it clearly says — this American citizen," something Cao de Benós denies.