Treasury sanctions North Koreans, Russians for alleged IT fraud
Treasury says the network used fake IT jobs to steal wages and data, with millions in cryptocurrency and cash routed to Pyongyang.
- On Wednesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned 10 individuals and the First Financial and Technical Development Center, targeting government-run schemes using IT workers to defraud businesses and generate revenue for North Korea's weapons programs.
- Pyongyang's state-run operations involve IT workers fraudulently securing employment at foreign companies, funnelling wages back to the regime to fund ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs.
- Russian national Vitold Viktorovich Obertas processed nearly $2 million in cryptocurrency and at least $1.25 million in currency for DPRK officials, while North Korean national Kim Ki Hyok transferred nearly $500,000 in cryptocurrency.
- The Treasury Department blocked all U.S.-linked property of designated individuals, prohibiting Americans from engaging with them, as Australia and the European Union also imposed North Korea-related sanctions this month.
- Although President Donald Trump held summits with Kim in 2018 and 2019, diplomatic efforts stalled over nuclear weapons, and Trump recently downplayed the idea of another high-profile meeting next month.
21 Articles
21 Articles
(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Sung-min = The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on the 28th (local time) [regarding] illegal... by employing IT personnel under false pretenses at U.S. companies, etc.
US sanctions N. Korean network accused of defrauding businesses
The United States imposed sanctions on Wednesday to target what the Treasury Department said were North Korean government-run schemes that use IT workers to defraud U.S. businesses and generate revenue for Pyongyang's weapons programs. The Treasury Department said the schemes involve North Korean IT workers fraudulently gaining employment with companies in the United States and elsewhere, and Pyongyang taking most of the workers' wages to fund i…
THE US HAS IMPOSED new sanctions against 10 individuals and one company linked to North Korea. The sanctions come at a time of stalemate in denuclearization talks that the Trump administration is trying to revive.
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