ATLANTA – Four North Korean nationals, Kim Kwang Jin (김관진), Kang Tae Bok (강태복), Jong Pong Ju (정봉주), and Chang Nam Il (창남일), have been charged in a five-count wire fraud and cash laundering indictment arising from a scheme to be employed as distant IT employees after which steal and launder over $900,000 in digital foreign money.
“The defendants used pretend and stolen private identities to hide their North Korean nationality, pose as distant IT employees, and exploit their victims’ belief to steal tons of of hundreds of {dollars},” stated U.S. Legal professional Theodore S. Hertzberg. “This indictment highlights the distinctive risk North Korea poses to corporations that rent distant IT employees and underscores our resolve to prosecute any actor, in america or overseas, who steals from Georgia companies.”
“These schemes goal and steal from U.S. corporations and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit applications, together with its weapons applications,” stated John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Legal professional Common for the Division’s Nationwide Safety Division. “The Justice Division, together with our regulation enforcement, non-public sector, and worldwide companions, will persistently pursue and dismantle these cyber-enabled income technology networks.”
“North Korean operatives used false identities to infiltrate corporations and steal digital belongings to fund their regime,” stated Paul Brown, Particular Agent in Cost of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI is dedicated to exposing these threats and defending U.S. companies from nation-state cybercrime.”
In keeping with U.S. Legal professional Hertzberg, the indictment, and different info introduced in court docket: To generate income for the regime, the Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea (“North Korea” or “DPRK”) dispatches hundreds of expert IT employees all over the world to deceive and infiltrate American corporations. In October 2019, the defendants traveled to the United Arab Emirates on North Korean paperwork and labored there as a crew. In roughly December 2020 and Could 2021, respectively, Kim Kwang Jin (utilizing sufferer P.S.’s stolen identification) and Jong Pong Ju (utilizing the alias “Bryan Cho”) have been employed as builders by an Atlanta, Georgia-based blockchain analysis and growth firm and a Serbian digital token firm. Each defendants hid their North Korean identities from their employers by offering false identification paperwork containing a combination of stolen and fraudulent identification info. Neither firm would have employed Kim Kwang Jin or Jong Pong Ju had it recognized the defendants have been North Korean residents. Later, on a suggestion from Jong Pong Ju, the Serbian firm employed “Peter Xiao,” who in truth was Chang Nam Il.
After gaining their employers’ belief, Kim Kwang Jin and Jong Pong Ju have been assigned tasks that supplied them entry to their employers’ digital foreign money belongings. In February 2022, Jong Pong Ju used that entry to steal digital foreign money then price roughly $175,000. In March 2022, Kim Kwang Jin stole digital foreign money then price roughly $740,000 by modifying the supply code of two of his employer’s sensible contracts.
To launder the funds after the thefts, Kim Kwang Jin and Jong Pong Ju used a digital foreign money mixer after which transferred the funds to digital foreign money change accounts managed by defendants Kang Tae Bok and Chang Nam Il however held in the names of aliases. The accounts have been opened utilizing fraudulent Malaysian identification paperwork.
Kim Kwang Jin (김관진), Kang Tae Bok (강태복), Jong Pong Ju (정봉주), and Chang Nam Il (창남일) have been indicted by a federal grand jury seated in the Northern District of Georgia on June 24, 2025.
Members of the general public are reminded that the indictment solely incorporates prices. The defendants are presumed harmless of the costs, and the federal government bears the burden to show the defendants’ guilt past an affordable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It’s half of the Division of Justice’s DPRK RevGen: Home Enabler Initiative. Below the Initiative, launched by the Nationwide Safety Division and FBI Cyber and Counterintelligence Divisions in March 2024, federal prosecutors and brokers prioritize high-impact, strategic, and unified enforcement and disruption operations focusing on the DPRK’s illicit income technology efforts and the U.S.-based enablers of these efforts.
Assistant United States Attorneys Samir Kaushal and Alex R. Sistla, and Trial Legal professional Jacques Singer-Emery of the Nationwide Safety Division’s Nationwide Safety Cyber Part, are prosecuting the case.
For additional info please contact the U.S. Legal professional’s Public Affairs Workplace at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6185. The Web deal with for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga
