Spanish police announced yesterday that they had detained a Spaniard wanted by the United States for allegedly conspiring with a convicted American cryptocurrency researcher to help North Korea evade US sanctions.
The US Justice Department last year charged Alejandro Cao de Benos, who founded a pro-Pyongyang organization, with illegally providing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to North Korea. Ethereum developer He accused Virgil Griffith of recruiting him.
Griffith was sentenced by a US court in 2022 for conspiring to help North Korea evade US sanctions by using cryptocurrency. 5 years 3 months He was sentenced to prison.
Cao de Benos called the US allegations against him “wrong” in a post on social media platform X on Friday afternoon.
Spain’s national police said in a statement that they learned that Cao de Benos was in Barcelona with a fake ID and was planning to take a train to Madrid.
He was arrested when he arrived at the train station on Thursday.
A judicial source said Cao de Benos appeared before a Supreme Court judge on Friday and released him unconditionally while he awaits extradition proceedings.
The source added that the United States must formalize the request and submit documents. Caos de Benos wrote in X:
“Refund is out of the question. The US accusation is not only false but does not exist in Spain,”
Lawyers for Cao de Benos, who could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, could not immediately be identified.