U.S. authorities have indicted five people for their alleged roles in a multiyear scheme to obtain remote IT jobs from dozens of U.S. companies.
The Justice Department announced Thursday the indictment of North Korean nationals Chin Song Il and Park Jin Sung. Mexico's Pedro Ernesto Alonso de los Reyes, Americans Eric Ntekeleze Prince and Emmanuel Astor.
The Justice Department said the FBI arrested Mr. Ntekelese and Mr. Asutol and raided Mr. Asutol's home in North Carolina for the wraps provided by the company to make it appear that the company employed U.S.-based workers. It said it had found evidence of a “laptop farm” housing top computers.
Alonso was also arrested in the Netherlands after a US warrant was issued.
According to the indictment, Ntekereze and Ashtolu installed remote access software such as Anydesk and TeamViewer on company-issued devices that allowed the North Koreans to hide their location information. The two Americans also provided Jin and Park with fake identification documents, including a U.S. passport and a U.S. bank account.
The indictment alleges that the defendants obtained employment from at least 64 U.S. organizations during a multi-year scheme from April 2018 to August 2024. These organizations included U.S. financial institutions, San Francisco-based technology companies, and corporations. IT organization headquartered in Palo Alto.
Payments from 10 of those companies generated at least $866,255 in proceeds, most of which was laundered through bank accounts in China, according to the Justice Department.
“The Department of Justice remains committed to thwarting North Korea's cyber-based sanctions evasion schemes, which threaten to undermine U.S. companies,” said Devin DeBacker, a supervisory official in the Justice Department's National Security Division. Moreover, they are trying to get the North Korean regime to fund its priorities.” the department said in a statement.
In parallel to Thursday's indictment, which comes days after the Treasury Department sanctioned two individuals and four entities for allegedly engaging in similar conduct, the FBI said North Korean IT officials were involved in malicious activities such as data extortion. issued an advisory warning that it is becoming increasingly involved.
The agency said North Korean IT personnel are using illegal access to corporate networks to “steal proprietary information and confidential data, facilitate cybercriminal activities, and conduct revenue-generating activities on behalf of the regime.” He said he was observing.