DOJ announces arrest, indictments in North Korean IT worker scheme

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By AJ Vicens

(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI on Monday announced an arrest and indictments targeting North Korea’s so-called “IT worker” program, where North Koreans obtain remote IT-related positions at more than 100 U.S. companies, and use that access to steal money and information from a host of companies around the world.

The North Korean workers used compromised identities of more than 80 U.S. citizens to obtain remote jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies and caused more than $3 million in legal fees, remediation and other costs, according to the DOJ.

The North Koreans also allegedly stole at least $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency from one Georgia-based company with their access, along with employer data and source code, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) data, from a California-based defense contractor, the DOJ said.

Monday’s announcement included one arrest, two indictments, searches of more than two dozen U.S. locations hosting multiple laptops used by remote North Korean workers, and the seizure of financial accounts and websites used by the participants as part of the alleged scheme, according to a DOJ statement.

The Permanent Mission of North Korea to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhenxing “Danny” Wang and Kejia Wang, both U.S. citizens, were indicted as part of the operation, according to the DOJ. Zhenxing Wang was arrested in New Jersey, while Kejia Wang remains free, a DOJ spokesperson said in an email. An attorney for Zhenxing Wang could not be immediately located.  

The two men, along with four other unnamed U.S. “facilitators,” assisted the North Koreans by procuring and operating laptops used by the overseas workers, created financial accounts to receive money earned by the workers to be sent back to North Korea, and created shell companies to make the workers appear more authentic, according to the DOJ, earning nearly $700,000 from the scheme for themselves.

Federal prosecutors also indicted six Chinese nationals and two Taiwanese nationals for alleged roles in the operation.

China would take all necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of its citizens, the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

(Reporting by AJ Vicens in Detroit; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Edward Tobin and Kate Mayberry)