‘Blockchain Island Malta’ player wanted by FBI still in Maltese cannabis business
News
Christopher Emms (left) and Gianluca Caruana Curran, co-owners of Green Goblin. Photo: With Tech World
Government ‘virtual currency partner’ Christopher Emms, now wanted by the FBI for teaching North Korea blockchain money laundering while operating in Malta and currently seeking asylum in Russia, remains active in Malta through a 50% stake in Green Goblin, a legal and business services company specializing in the medical cannabis industry.
Emms founded the company in 2018 when he claimed to be spearheading Malta’s ‘Blockchain Island’ fever with Gianluca Caruana Curran, a lawyer currently representing Yorgen Fenech, accused of masterminding the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Emms and Caruana Curran still own 50% of the company each – Emms through a company he owns in Gibraltar, Emms Ventures Limited.
Emms resigned from his board of the Maltese cannabis consultancy in August 2020, following his ill-fated participation in the 2019 Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference, landing him on the FBI’s wanted list.
Alleged violations of US sanctions at the conference also led to the highly publicized arrest and indictment of Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith.
Emms is currently wanted in the US where he faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly teaching North Korean government officials at the conference how to use blockchain to launder money and avoid US sanctions – crimes he allegedly committed while active under Malta’s Blockchain Ordeal.
Emms was subsequently placed on the FBI’s wanted list for teaching the technology to North Korea – has said he is now seeking political asylum in Russia.
Emms led Decentralized Ventures, which was “set up to support the Maltese government’s plans to create the world’s first fully regulated market for ICOs, distributed ledger technology and virtual currencies”.
Emms Now in Russia Says Crypto Could Make Sanctions ‘Completely Ineffective’
But a year after establishing the “partnership” with the Maltese government, Emms was in North Korea to stand up to the dictatorship’s powers, making him a wanted man by the FBI. He now claims that he is seeking political asylum in Russia.
On his LinkedIn profile, Emms is currently enthusiastic about how Russia’s central bank is adopting cryptocurrencies: “This may be the first time a state has successfully implemented crypto and blockchain technology for mass-scale payments, rendering US-led sanctions completely ineffective as well! “
Emms had set up shop and operated out of Malta, apparently specifically during the 2018-2019 “grandfathering” period, when cryptocurrency controls were lax, and which had drawn companies like Binance to Malta for a while.
During that period, such operations were largely exempt from the need for authorization or even the need to comply with anti-money laundering laws.
According to the US Department of Justice, “In his own sales pitch, Emms allegedly informed North Korean officials that cryptocurrency technology made it possible to transfer money to any country in the world regardless of the sanctions or penalties imposed on any country’.”
At the time he was operating in Malta, Emms was accused by the FBI of “conspiring to violate economic sanctions imposed on North Korea, to teach and advise members of the North Korean government about cutting-edge cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, all to avoid U.S. sanctions intended to stop North Korea’s hostile nuclear ambitions”.
They also reportedly proposed plans to create specialized “smart contracts” to serve the DPRK’s unique interests and chart cryptocurrency transactions designed to evade and avoid US sanctions, including charting such transactions on a whiteboard for the North Korean audience.
