The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on a North Korean front company and three associated individuals for their role in a fraudulent remote information technology (IT) worker scheme designed to generate illicit revenue for Pyongyang. The sanctioned entity is Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company, alongside individuals Kim Se Un, Jo Kyong Hun, and Myong Chol Min, who are accused of evading sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The Director of OFAC, Bradley T. Smith, emphasized the commitment to hold accountable those attempting to infiltrate global supply chains and exploiting sanctions evasion to support North Korea’s destabilizing activities. This recent action aligns with ongoing U.S. efforts to disrupt North Korea’s revenue generation schemes that fund its illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Under the IT worker scheme, the DPRK sends skilled IT workers to various countries, including China, Russia, and Vietnam, encouraging them to gain remote jobs and access U.S. companies using fraudulent documents, stolen identities, and false personas—often with help from facilitators operating laptop farms. Notably, some of these impersonators have been found using fictional profiles featuring Minions and other characters from the "Despicable Me" franchise.
The Treasury noted that the DPRK government retains most of the wages earned by these IT workers, generating hundreds of millions of dollars to support its unlawful weapons programs. In certain instances, these workers have introduced malware into company networks to steal proprietary data.
In a related case, Christina Marie Chapman from Arizona was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for her role in managing a laptop farm that misled companies into believing that these North Korean IT workers were operating remotely within the U.S. Chapman had previously pleaded guilty. The impacted companies span several sectors, including a major TV network, a tech firm, and a car manufacturer, with attempts to secure jobs at U.S. government agencies as well.
During a raid in October 2023, the FBI confiscated over 90 laptops from Chapman’s residence, with reports of more laptops overseas. The elaborate scheme reportedly generated more than $17 million in illicit revenue for both Chapman and the North Korean government over three years. Following her sentencing, she was ordered to forfeit a significant sum meant for the North Koreans.
Matthew R. Galeotti, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, highlighted the extensive damage caused by Chapman’s operation, which exploited numerous American companies and government agencies, implicating stolen identities in the process.
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