North Korean IT worker FBI wanted poster.
Source: FBI
this Ministry of Justice Fourteen North Korean citizens were accused of conspiring to use false identities to obtain IT jobs at U.S. companies and transfer funds back to the country, in violation of U.S. sanctions.
this indictmentThe lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Missouri federal court, alleges the scheme netted at least $88 million between April 2017 and March 2023.
All 14 defendants were charged with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and conspiring to commit wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft. Eight of the conspirators were also charged with aggravated identity theft.
The U.S. Department of Justice said the conspirators each face up to 27 years in prison if convicted. All 14 people are listed as “Fugitives Most Wanted by the FBI.”
In some cases, they increased revenue by stealing sensitive company information and forcing employers to pay extortion fees to prevent the information from being leaked, the Justice Department said.
To hide their identities from U.S. employers, the conspirators used stolen U.S. identities to apply for jobs, prosecutors said. They also allegedly paid Americans to attend job interviews and work meetings remotely under false identities, and registered domain names and designed fake websites to deceive potential employers.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release that some websites “should raise suspicions about candidates.”
For example, some sites contain nonsense such as, “Also, no one loves pain for its own sake, pursues it, wants to obtain it, but,” the government said.
North Korean IT worker FBI wanted poster.
FBI
The conspirators allegedly worked for two North Korean-controlled companies, Yanbian Silver Star and Volasis Silver Star, headquartered in China and Russia respectively. The U.S. Treasury Department has previously Sanctions imposed on two companies.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday it was providing award of Up to US$5 million Learn about the co-conspirators and others involved in these two “North Korea front companies.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said the two companies already employ at least 130 people, but many more work to circumvent sanctions and generate revenue for the country’s ruling regime.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Ashley Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s St. Louis field office, said of the case announced Thursday.
“The North Korean government has trained and deployed thousands of IT workers to carry out the same program against American companies every day,” Johnson said.
“To support its brutal regime, the North Korean government directed IT workers to fraudulently obtain employment opportunities, steal sensitive information from U.S. companies, and transfer funds back to North Korea,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a news release stated in the manuscript.
“The indictment of 14 North Korean nationals reveals their alleged evasion of sanctions and should serve as a warning to global businesses to remain vigilant against such malign activities by the North Korean regime,” Monaco said.
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