Five people plead guilty to helping North Koreans infiltrate US companies as 'remote IT workers' | TechCrunch

"The five people are accused of working as "facilitators" who helped North Koreans get jobs by providing their own real identities, or false and stolen identities of more than a dozen U.S. nationals. The facilitators also hosted company-provided laptops in their homes across the U.S. to make it look like the North Korean workers lived locally, according to the DOJ press release."

"The latest round of guilty pleas is part of a years-long effort by American authorities to disrupt North Korea's ability to make money from cybercrime. For years, North Korea has successfully infiltrated hundreds of Western companies as remote IT workers - as well as investors and recruiters - as part of a scheme to fund its internationally sanctioned nuclear weapons program. In recent years, the U.S. government has fought back, indicting people involved in the scheme, and imposing sanctions on international fraud networks."

Five people pleaded guilty to facilitating a scheme that placed North Korean operatives in U.S. remote IT positions. The facilitators provided real, false, or stolen U.S. identities and hosted employer-provided laptops in their U.S. homes to create the appearance of local employment. The scheme affected 136 U.S. companies and generated $2.2 million in revenue for Kim Jong Un's regime. Three U.S. nationals — Audricus Phagnasay, Jason Salazar, and Alexander Paul Travis — each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy. U.S. authorities have pursued indictments and sanctions as part of a years-long effort to disrupt North Korea's cybercrime funding for its nuclear weapons program.

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