The United States Department of Justice has announced that five people have pleaded guilty to helping North Korea run illegal money-making schemes, including remote IT job fraud and cryptocurrency theft.
As part of the case, US authorities are also moving to seize fifteen million dollars in cryptocurrency connected to hacks carried out by the APT38 group, which is tied to the well-known Lazarus cybercrime team.
The individuals involved include four Americans and one Ukrainian. They used their own identities, fake identities, or identities stolen from eighteen US citizens to help North Korean workers get jobs at American companies. These workers then sent their salaries, and in some cases, stolen company data, directly to the North Korean government.
According to the Justice Department, the actions of these five people affected one hundred thirty-six companies across the country and brought in more than two point two million dollars for the North Korean regime.
The people who pleaded guilty are:
• Oleksandr Didenko admitted to wire fraud conspiracy and identity theft. He stole US identities and sold them to overseas IT workers, allowing them to get jobs at forty American companies. He has been linked to the UpWorkSell platform, which was previously seized by the Justice Department.
• Erick Ntekereze Prince admitted to wire fraud conspiracy. Through his company Taggcar Inc, he helped foreign IT workers using stolen identities get jobs at sixty-four US companies. He earned eighty nine thousand dollars, while damages surpassed nine hundred forty-three thousand dollars.
• Audricus Phagnasay, Jason Salazar, and Alexander Paul Travis also admitted to wire fraud conspiracy. They were involved in the schemes from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty two, causing about one point two eight million dollars in losses. Travis earned fifty-one thousand dollars, while Phagnasay and Salazar earned a few thousand each.
Didenko has agreed to give up five hundred seventy thousand dollars in cash and eight hundred thirty thousand dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
The Justice Department also revealed two civil forfeiture actions aimed at recovering more than fifteen million dollars stolen and laundered by North Korea’s APT38 group. These funds are linked to four major cyberattacks in twenty twenty three against cryptocurrency platforms in Panama, Estonia, and Seychelles. The total amount stolen in these attacks was about three hundred eighty-two million dollars.
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APT38 has been moving the stolen funds through crypto bridges, mixers, exchanges, and over-the-counter traders. Authorities have traced and recovered about fifteen million dollars so far, with more seizures expected as the investigation continues.
