Cryptocurrency expert released on $1M bond in sanctions case

NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency expert charged with violating economic sanctions against North Korea has been released on $1 million bond despite federal prosecutors’ concerns he might flee the United States before trial.

Virgil Griffith was placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring at his parents’ home outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

His release came two days after a grand jury in New York indicted him on charges he violated sanctions by presenting at a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea after the U.S. government denied his request to travel to Pyongyang.

Griffith’s defense attorney, Brian Klein, told The Associated Press on Friday that Griffith “should not have been indicted.”

“We are going to vigorously contest the charge,” Klein wrote in an email, “and look forward to getting all the facts in front of the jury at trial.”

Griffith’s release followed a hearing last month in which prosecutors said Griffith had a…