The US Justice Department has announced that five people have pleaded guilty to helping North Koreans defraud US companies by pretending to be US-based remote workers. North Korea has previously used fake identities and direct manipulation of US cybersecurity operatives to evade international sanctions and send money into the country.
The DOJ says that in this case, the people knew they were helping North Koreans, and “provided their own, false or stolen identities” to help remote workers get jobs. They “hosted laptops provided by the American victim company at residences across the United States” to conceal the workers’ location. In the case of at least two “facilitators”, they also conducted company drug testing on behalf of the workers.
Audricus Faganasse, Jason Salazar and Alexander Paul Travis each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy for their roles in the scam. Travis was paid “at least $51,397” for participating, while Fagansay and Salazar earned “at least $3,450 and $4,500, respectively.” Another facilitator, Eric Entequerez Prince, used his company to contract certified IT workers to other US companies, knowing full well that the employees were using stolen identities. He earned “over $89,000” for his participation in the scam and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy.
The final ringleader, Oleksandr Didenko, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft for participating in a widespread identity theft operation. The DOJ says Didenko helped foreign IT workers fraudulently obtain employment at 40 U.S. companies, and he is forfeiting $1.4 million as part of his plea deal.
US Attorney Jason A. “These prosecutions make one thing clear: the United States will not allow the DPRK to finance its weapons programs by preying on American companies and workers,” Redding Quinones said in the DOJ announcement. “We will continue to work with our partners at the Justice Department to expose these schemes, recover the stolen funds, and pursue everyone who enabled North Korea’s operations.”