PYONGYANG (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. authorities have busted a North Korean Official's efforts to generate revenue for North Korea and its weapons program through illegal information technology worker schemes and cryptocurrency theft.
The Department of Justice said it filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that North Korean IT workers obtained illegal employment and amassed millions in cryptocurrency for the benefit of the North Korean government, as a means of evading U.S. sanctions placed on North Korea.
The funds were initially restrained in connection with an April 2023 indictment against Sim Hyon Sop, a North Korean Foreign Trade Bank representative who was allegedly conspiring with the IT workers. While the North Koreans were attempting to launder those revenue, the U.S. government was able to freeze and seize more than $7.74 million linked to the scheme, the Justice Department said in a press release.
'For years, North Korea has exploited global remote IT contracting and cryptocurrency ecosystems to evade U.S. sanctions and bankroll its weapons programs,' said Sue J. Bai, Head of the Justice Department's National Security Division.
The FBI's investigation has revealed a massive campaign by North Korean IT workers to defraud U.S. businesses by obtaining employment using the stolen identities of American citizens, all so the North Korean government can evade U.S. sanctions and generate revenue for its authoritarian regime.
According to the complaint, the North Korean government uses illegally obtained cryptocurrency as a means of generating revenue for its priorities through remote work done by North Korean IT workers deployed around the globe, including in the U.S., China and Russia.
To send their illegally obtained cryptocurrency back to North Korea, the IT workers allegedly transferred the cryptocurrency using money laundering techniques.
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