He wasn't arrested at the airport when he returned, he was questioned and cooperated, then was arrested later with evidence partially being what he himself told investigators.
Thanks. I think they want links because they hadn't seen this case before even though the rest of us have been watching this slow motion trainwreck for some time.
According to his lawyers, after his North Korean speaking engagement, Griffith actually went straight to the U.S. embassy in Singapore, where he was residing at the time, to tell them all about the experience. He also chose to meet with the FBI in Puerto Rico and San Francisco.
But after extensive talks, the feds instead surprised the technologist by arresting him at Los Angeles International Airport on Thanksgiving Day 2019, while Griffith was boarding a flight to Baltimore to spend the holiday with his parents and sister.
He was indicted months later on a single count of violating presidential executive orders aimed at blocking North Korea from the international banking system as punishment for its repeated threats to nuke the United States.
The arrest immediately generated criticism, as the exceedingly eccentric and devoted community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts cast the prosecution as a crackdown on free speech.
Meanwhile, the federal government played right into that by shrouding the case in secrecy. So many court files were kept sealed that journalist Matthew Russell Lee, who runs the publication Inner City Press, asked the judge to reconsider in a letter that noted, “The sealings and withholding here are unacceptable, and go beyond those requested even in the Central Intelligence Agency trial” of accused Wikileaks leaker Joshua Adam Schulte.
As the case proceeded, Griffith’s attorneys maintained that his travel was “a goodwill speaking trip.”
During his chats with FBI agents, Griffith came clean and offered to help the feds explore his North Korean contacts and activities, according to a source close to Griffith. This source described at length Griffith’s willingness to cooperate with the American intelligence agencies and the potential to become something of a spy asset. Those hopes were dashed when the Justice Department came down hard on him.
At the airport upon return
> Why he took a plea
Because the prosecutor would ask for way more prison time otherwise, the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act charge was pretty solid
> what the details of his presentation were
Information the North Koreans could have found already, even with their limited internet